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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



COMPENDIUM 



OF 



CHURCH HISTORY 



BY THE ./ 

REV. ANDREW C. ZENOS, D.D. 

Professor of Biblical Theology in the McCormick Theological Seminary, 
Chicago, Illinois 



WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY THE 

REV. JOHN DEWITT, D.D., LL. D. 

Archibald Alexa7ider Professor of Church History in Princeton 
Theological Seminary 




I 






Philadelphia, Pa. : 

Presbyterian Board of Publication and 

Sabbath-School Work 

1896 






4 



.«ty 



Copyright, 1896, by 
THE TRUSTEES OF THE PRESBYTERIAN BOARD 
OF PUBLICATION AND SABBATH- 
SCHOOL WORK. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS, 



PART I. THE ANCIENT PERIOD. 
(B. C. 4-A. D. 590.) 

INTRODUCTION BY THE REV. JOHN DEWITT, D.D., LL. D. 1-3. 
PRELIMINARY. 

History — Church History — History of the Christian Church — The Christian 
Church — Visible and invisible — Church History and secular History — 
Advantages of the study — Divisions 5-10 

CHAPTER I. 

CONDITION OF THE WORLD. 

Preparation for Christianity — Contribution of Greece to this preparation — 
Contribution of Rome — Corrupt religion and morals — Judaism — The 
Pharisees — Sadducees — Essenes — Scribes — Synagogue — Dispersion — 
Alexandrian influence — Proselytes — Samaritans — Political history 1 1-17 

CHAPTER II. 

THE APOSTOLIC AGE (30-100). 

Birth of Jesus Christ — Ministry and death — Pentecost — Original community 
— Appointment of deacons — Martyrdom of Stephen — Preaching in 
Samaria — Preaching to proselytes — Preaching to Gentiles — Paul's con- 
version — First missionary journey — Question concerning Gentile Chris- 
tians — Assembly at Jerusalem — Second missionary journey — Third mis- 
sionary journey — Peter — James — The other Apostles — John — The 
Christian Church and the world — Persecution under Nero and Domi- 
tian — Fall of Jerusalem — Polity of the Church— Worship — Lord's Sup- 
per — Baptism — Other ordinances — Literary activity (writing of the New 
Testament) — Heresies 18-30 

CHAPTER III. 

THE SUB-APOSTOLIC AGE (100-170 A. d). 

Spread of Christianity — Christianity distinguished from Judaism — The Jews 
after the fall of Jerusalem — Rabbinical schools — Christianity and the 
world— Laws affecting the Church — Pliny's letter to Trajan — Hadrian 
— Antoninus Pius — Marcus Aurelius. Literary productions — Apostolic 
Fathers — Clement — Barnabas — Ignatius — Hermas — Polycarp— Papias 
— The Teachings of the Tzvelve — The Apologists — Justin — Tatian — 
Heresies — Pseudo-Clementine writings — Nazarenes, Ebionites, etc — 
Gnostics in general — Special Gnostic systems — Bardesanes — Develop- 
ment of local association — Catholic Church — Worship — Montanism .... 31-43 

iii. 



iv. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER IV. 

THE ANTE-NICENE PERIOD (170-325 A. d). 

Spread of Christianity — Attacks of Pagan philosophers — Apollonius of 
Tyana — Neo-Platonism — Porphyry — Persecutions — Alexander Severus 
— Maximin — Decius — Gallienus — Diocletian 44-50 

CHAPTER V. 

ANTE-NICENE CHRISTIAN THOUGHT. 

Christian writings — Irenseus — Hippoly tus — Gaius — Hegesippus — Julius 
Africanus — Tertullian — Minor Latin writers — Alexandrian School — 
Pantaenus — Clement — Origen (life works, Theology) — Dionysius — Greg- 
ory Thaumaturgus — Methodius — Emergence of the Canon of the New 
Testament — The Rule of Faith — Heresies — The Alogi — Monarchian- 
ism — Dynamic Monarchianism — Theodotus — Paul of Samosata — Modal 
Monarchianism — Patripassians — Sabellius — Beryl — Chiliasm 51-59 

CHAPTER VI. 

ECCLESIASTICAL DEVELOPMENT. 

Clergy and laity — The bishops — Presbyters and deacons — Lower clergy — 
Election and consecration of bishops — Support of clergy — Marriage — 
Hierarchical organization — Synods — Patriarchates — Primacy of Rome — 
Ecclesiastical law — Discipline — Schism of Callixtus and Hippolytus — 
of Novatian — Felicissimus — Fortunatus — Meletius — Worship — Baptism 
— Sacred Seasons — Quartodeciman controversy — Church buildings — 
Catacombs— Emblematic decorations — Asceticism — Hermits — Anthony 
— ManichaMsm 60-69 

CHAPTER VII. 

CHURCH AND STATE IN THE NICENE AGE (325-590). 

Constantine and Licinnius — Christianity made the state religion — Char- 
acter of Constantine — His sons— Julian — Restoration of Christianity — 
Attitude of Pagan philosophy — Suppression of heathenism — Hypsista- 
rians and Euchetae — Christianity in Persia — In Armenia — In Abyssinia 
— Among the Goths— Among the Franks — In Britain — In Ireland — St. 
Patrick — In Scotland 70-77 

CHAPTER VIII. 

THE HIERARCHY AND POLITY. 

Extension of episcopal administration — Privileges granted by the govern- 
ment to Church — New officers — Qualifications for entering clerical life 
— Ecumenical councils — Patriarchates — Claims of Rome — Leo 1 78-82 

CHAPTER IX. 

THEOLOGY AND CONTROVERSIES. 

Arius and his views— Council of Nicaea 325 — Semi-Arian controversy — 
Anomaeans and Homoiousians — Ambrose and Hilary — Macedonian- 
ism — The Cappadocian theologians — Origen's influence — Origenistic 
controversy — Theophilus and Chrysostom — Christological controversies 
— Apollinaris — Theodore of Mopsuestia — Nestorianism — Etychianism 
— Monophysitism — Council of Chalcedon — Debates on Monophysitism 
— Fifth Ecumenical Council — Jacobites — Augustine — His work — His 
theology — Pelagianism — Julian of Eclanum — Semi-Pelagianism — Pris- 
cillianism 83-97 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. v . 

CHAPTER X. 

NICENE AND POST-NICENE INSTITUTIONS. 

Eucharistic service — Doctrine of Sacrifice — Sunday — Easter — Epiphany 
and Christmas — Saint and martyr worship— The Virgin Mary— Angel- 
worship — Image-worship — Opposition to images — Church buildings — 
Discipline — Baptism — Law — Donatists — Monasticism — Coenobites — 
Monastic rules — Western Monasticism — Jovinian 98-105 



PART II. THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD. (590-1517.) 

CHAPTER I. 

THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 

End of the Western Empire — The Church and the Dark Ages — Limits of 

the Middle Ages — Geographical distribution of races 107-109 

CHAPTER II. 

THE CHURCH IN THE EAST. 

The disturbing elements — Arabia — Its people and its religions — Life of 
Mohammed — System — The Koran — Spread of Mohammedanism — Mon- 
othelite controversy — Sixth Ecumenical Council — The Quinisext 
Council — Subsequent history of Monothelites — Image-worship — Con- 
troversy — Seventh Ecumenical Council — Final Conflict — The Western 
Church on Image-Worship — Paulicians 110-117 

CHAPTER III. 

THE CHURCH IN THE WEST — THE FRANK KINGDOM. 

Gregory I. — Controversy as to universal bishopric — Successors of Gregory — 
The Frank Kingdom — Charles Martel — Pepin the Short — Charlemagne 
— The Holy Roman Empire 118-121 

CHAPTER IV. 4/ 

CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE TEUTONS. 

General character of medieval missions — Augustine and the Anglo-Saxons 
— The Keltic Churches — Christian literature in England— Columbanus 
— Willibrord — Boniface 122-125 

CHAPTER V. s 

CHRISTIAN THOUGHT AND LIFE IN THE WEST. 

The Court of Charlemagne — Isidore of Seville — Adoptionism — Adoption- 
ism condemned — Ecclesiastical corruption — Legislation passes into the 
hands of the civil government — Law of Spain — of Charlemagne — Legis- 
lation as to clergy — Ecclesiastical discipline — Penitential books — 
Homiliaria — Church music 126-130 

CHAPTER VI. V 

THE PAPACY AND THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE (800-IO73). 

Decline of the Carolingian dynasty— Temporary decline of the Papacy — 
The Pseudo-Isidorian Decretals — The Female Pope Joanna — Nicholas 
I. — Hadrian II. — John VIII. — The Pornocracy — Tusculan Supremacy 
— Synod of Sutri and Reforms 131-136 



vi. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER VII. 

CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE SCANDINAVIANS AND SLAVS. 

Harald Klak — Ansgar in Denmark, in Sweden — Conversion of Denmark — 
Norway — Iceland — The Slavs — Christian] zation of Bulgaria — Moravia — 
Bohemia— Poland— Russia— the Wends— the Magyars 137-143 

CHAPTER VIII. 

CONTROVERSIES AND SCHISMS. 

Augustinianism in the Church — Gotschalk — His view condemned — His im- 
prisonment — Controversy carried on — John Scotus Erigena — End of 
the controversy — Sacramentarian controversy — Berengarius and his 
views— Differences between Eastern and Western churches— Separa- 
tion in the ninth century— Final schism 144-150 

CHAPTER IX. 

LIFE AND MORALS IN THE MIDDLE AGES 

Degeneration of morals — The Dark Century — The wholesome influence of 
the Church — Slavery — Private feuds—" Truce of God " — Discipline — 
Worship — Hymnology — Monasticism — Reforms — Clugny *5 1^*55 

CHAPTER X. 

THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE IN CONFLICT (1073-1294). 

Accession of Gregory VI T. — Reforms — Ideals of Hildebrand — Conflict 
with and submission of Henry IV. — Rebellion of Henry, and death of 
the pope — Successors of Gregory — Guelph and GhibelHne — Arnold of 
Brescia — Conflict with Frederick Barbarossa — Henry II. and Thomas 
a Becket — Innocent III. — Frederick II. — Fifth Crusade — Conflict re- 
newed — Fall of the Hohenstaufen — Louis IX. and the Pragmatic 
sanction— The Hapsburgs — Gregory X. — Martin IV.— Sicilian vespers 
— Celestine V 156-1 64 

CHAPTER XI. 

THE CRUSADES — WARS OF THE CHURCH AGAINST INFIDELS AND HERETICS. 

Mohammedan control of Palestine — Peter the Hermit — The First crusade — 
Consequences — Knightly orders — Second crusade — Third crusade — 
Fourth crusade — Fifth crusade — Sixth and seventh crusades — Good 
and evil results — Albigensian crusade — Waldensians — Petrobrusians — 
Bogomiles 165-170 

CHAPTER XII. 

MONASTICISM AND SCHOLASTICISM — LEARNING AND PIETY. 

Spirit of independence — New orders — Cistercians — Other orders — The Car- 
thusians — The Mendicants — Dominican order — Franciscan order — 
Growth of the Mendicant orders — Universities — Arabic and Jewish 
Aristotelianism — Scholasticism — Anselm — Abelard — Bernard of Clair- 
vaux — Gilbert of Porree — School of St. Victor — Peter Lombard — Alex- 
ander Hales — John of Salisbury — Albertus Magnus — Thomas Aquinas 
— Bonaventura — Duns Scotus — Roger Bacon — Raymond Lull 171-179 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. vii. 

CHAPTER XIII. 

DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 

Boniface VIII. and Philip the Fair — Removal to Avignon — Babylonian 
captivity of the papacy — Feud with the empire — The Golden Bull — 
Rieuzi— End of the captivity — The great schism — Attempts to heal 
the breach — Council of Constance — Council of Basel — Removal to 
Florence — Plan to reunite the Eastern and Western churches — Fall of 
Constantinople — Revival of crusading — The " wicked " popes — Leo X. 180-187 

CHAPTER XIV. 

LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 

Scholasticism — William of Occam — Marsilius of Padua — Gabriel Biel — 
Mysticism — Eckhart — Tauler — Nicholas of Basel — Henry Suso — John 
Ruysbroek — The Friends of God — Thomas a Kempis — Natural Science 
— Raymond of Sabunde — Biblical learning — Nicholas de Lyra — Faber 
Stapulensis — The Renaissance — Reuchlin— Erasmus — Colet and More. 188-192 

CHAPTER XV. 

SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

The Jubilee — Indulgences — Inquisition — Wyclif — John Huss — Hussite 

war — Calixtines and Taborites — Savonarola 193-197 



PART III. THE MODERN PERIOD. (1517-1896.) 

CHAPTER I. 

THE RISE OF THE REFORMATION (1517-1555). 

Leo X. decides on the sale of indulgences — Martin Luther's early life — 
Martin Luther a monk and professor at Wittenberg — The posting of 
the ninety-five theses — Leipzig disputation — Excommunication — Me- 
lanchthon — Diet of Worms — Luther at the Wartburg — The Zwickau 
prophets at Wittenberg — Diets of Nuremberg and Speyer — Diet of 
Augsburg — Luther's marriage — His disputes wjth Henry VIII. — With 
Erasmus — Peasants' war — Zwingli — His removal to Zurich and spread 
of his views — Political complications — Lutheran and Zwinglian reforms 
compared — Sacramentarian controversy — Marburg conference — Relig- 
ious war in Switzerland — Death of Zwingli — League of Smalcald — 
Conference at Ratisbon — Death of Luther — Smalcaldic War — Peace of 
Augsburg 198-209 

CHAPTER II. 

THE SPREAD OF THE REFORMATION. 

The Reformation in Denmark — Norway, Ireland, Sweden — In France — un- 
der Francis I. — Under Henry II. — In England under Henry VIII. — 
Rupture with Rome — Progress of Reformation — Edward VI. — Geneva 
and Farel — John Calvin — Institutes — Calvinism at Geneva — Libertines 
— Servetus 210-218 



viii. TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER III. 

THE COUNTER-REFORMATION. 

Effect of the reformation on the Catholic Church— Italy and the reformation 
— Oratory of the Divine Love— Two tendencies— Contarini and his 
party— Caraffa — Council of Trent— Decision as to Scripture— Theologi- 
cal questions — Sacraments — Suspension of sessions — Resumption — 
Paul IV. and Carlo Borromeo— Moral reforms and effects of the Coun- 
cil—The Inquisition— The Index Expurgatorius— The Inquisition in 
Spain— New monastic orders— The Jesuits— Origin— Constitution- 
Labors — Missions 219-228 

CHAPTER IV. 

STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM ON THE CONTINENT (1555-1648). 

Abdication of Charles V.— Phillip II. in the Netherlands— The princes of 
Holland— Break with Philip II.— Formation of the Dutch Republic- 
Prince Maurice — France under Henry II. — under Francis II. — Charles 
IX. — Treaty of St. Germain — Henry III. — Henry of Navarre — Edict 
of Nantes — Beginning of the Thirty Years' War — First and second pe- 
riods— Gustavus Adolphus— Richelieu— The Treaty of Westphalia 229-236 

CHAPTER V. 

CHURCHES OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 

Accession of Mary — Persecutions — Accession of Elizabeth — Origin of Puri- 
tanism — Independency — James I.— Authorized version of the Bible 
— Severity against Catholics — Conflict with Parliament — Charles I. — 
Strafford and Laud — The Book of Sports — Conflict with Hampden 
and Cromwell — Long Parliament — Execution of Strafford and Laud — 
Civil war — Execution of the king — Reforms in Scotland — Organization 
of the Congregation and Covenant — John Knox — Mary Queen of Scots 
— Melville — Efforts to episcopalianize the Church of Scotland 237-246 

CHAPTER VI. 

DEVELOPMENT OF PROTESTANT THEOLOGY. 

The Augsburg confession and the Loci Communes — Agricola and Antino- 
mianism — Schwenkfeld and Osiander — Lutherans and Melanchthonians 
— Adiaphoristic controversy — Synergistic controversy — Flacianism — 
Crypto-Calvinism — Formula of Concord — Rise of Arminianism — The 
Remonstrance — Synod of Dort — Westminster Assembly — The Solemn 
League and Covenant — Work of the Westminster Assembly 247-254 

CHAPTER VII. 

THE POLITICAL CHANGES AND THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH. 

Changes brought about by the treaty. of Westphalia — Decline of Holy Ro- 
man Empire — Poland, Sweden, and Spain — Growth of Russia and the 
Netherlands — France — The last Stuarts — The Gallican question — 
Jansenism — Port Royal — Pascal and the Provincial Letters — Quesnel's 
Moral Reflections — Bulls in Veniam Dominus and Unigenitus — End of 
Jansenism — Quietism — Madame Guyon and Fenelon — St. Francis of 
Sales — The Jesuits on the mission-field — unpopularity at home — Sup- 
pression of the order 255.261 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. i x 



CHAPTER VIII. 

LUTHERAN ORTHODOXY AND DISSENT. 

Lutheranism in Germany and Scandinavia — Pietism — Spener — Francke — 
Zinzendorf — The Moravian Brethren — Moravian theology — Swedenborg 
— Swedenborgianism — The New Jerusalem Church — Kenotic-Cryptic 
controversy — Calixtine controversy — Syncretism 262-266 

CHAPTER IX. 

THE ANGLICAN AND REFORMED CHURCHES. 

Cromwell and the Independents — Charles II. — Scotland — Cameronians — 
James II. — William and Mary — Queen Anne — Bounty Fund — Sachev- 
ernell case — Bangorian controversy — Roman Catholics — The Reformed 
Church in France, in Switzerland — Holland, Cocceians and Voetians — 
Federal Theology — Amyraldian theology 267-271 

CHAPTER X. 

PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY 

Bacon — Descartes — New beginning in philosophy — Spinoza — Locke — Leib- 
nitz and Wolf — Berkeley and idealism — Kant — Deism — Herbert of 
Cherbury — Thomas Hobbes — Charles Blunt — John Toland — Anthony 
Collins — Bolingbroke — Hume — French Deists — Voltaire — Rousseau — 
The Encyclopedists — German Rationalism — (The A tifklarung) Frede- 
rick II. — Degeneration of pulpit — Lessing — Unitarianism in England 
— Samuel Clark — Nathaniel Lardner — William Whiston — Theophlius 
Lindsey — Joseph Priestley — Unitarian defences — Bull — Waterland — 
Butler — Paley — Scholars and theologians — Leighton, Burnet, Pri- 
deaux, Bingham, Jeremy Taylor, Pearson, Barrow, South — Puritans 
Baxter, Owen, Howe, Seldon, Milton, Bunyan — Latitudinarianism 
Cudworth — Tillotson — Hymn-writing, Toplady, Watts, the Wesleys, 
Doddridge 272-280 

CHAPTER XL 

QUAKERS AND METHODISTS. 

Universal decline of spiritual life in the post-Reformation age — Reforma- 
tion age — Origin of Friends — The Inner light extravagances — The 
Oxford Methodists — Wesley and the Moravians — Wesley's visit to 
Herrnhut — Whitefield — Preaching by the revivalists — Wesley's work — 
Name of organization — Methodist society becomes a church — Whitefield 
in Wales and America— Results — Theology and learning 281-286 

CHAPTER XII. 

NEW CONDITIONS IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

Philosophy and politics potent factors — French revolution, causes — Out- 
break — Radical changes — Bonaparte — Restoration of Church affairs in 
France — Changes in the rest of Europe — Progress in England — Philos- 
ophy until Hegel — Fitchte, Herbert, Schelling — Hegel — Schopen- 
hauer — Comte — Spencer — Scottish philosophy — Jacobi — Lotze 287-293 

CHAPTER XIII. 

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

Pius VII. — Gregory XVI. — Pius IX. — Vatican Council — Dogma of infal- 
libility — Old Catholic movement — The pope as a prisoner at the Vatican 
— Leo XIII. — Diverging tendencies in Romanism — Ultramontainism — 
The Kultur-Kampf— Schools Jesuits — May laws — Reconciliation 294-298 



X TABLE OF CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER XIV. 

PROTESTANTISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

Reunion of Lutheran and Reformed churches in Germany— The Reformed 
Churchin France— Waldensians in Italy— The Church in Holland- 
Free Church in Scotland— Schleiermacher— His influence— Strauss, 
Baur and the Tubingen school— Ritschl — S. T. Coleridge— Broad' 
Church party in England— Tractarianism— Low Church party— Edward 
Irving and the Catholic Apostolic Church — Practical tendency- 
Missions, Carey, London Missionary Society, its missionaries— Morri- 
son, Williams, Ellis, Moffat, Livingstone— Scottish Missionary Society, 
Robert Haldane— Church Missionary Society— The missionary idea 
across the Channel— Special missions— Churches as missionary organ- 
izations—Bible societies— Sunday schools— Evangelical Alliance— Its 
constitution and work 299-308 

CHAPTER XV. 

CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA— IN THE COLONIAL ERA. 

Discoveries — Explorations and colonizations of western hemisphere — Mis- 
sionaries with Spaniards — Olmedo — French and Jesuits — English 
colonies — The Pilgrims — Winthrop and the Puritans — Hooker and the 
Connecticut colony — Calvert — and Maryland — Pennsylvania — Georgia — 
Smaller companies — Carolinas — Dutch settlement, New York — Cathol- 
icism and Puritanism in America — Forms of Protestantism — Roger 
Williams and Rhode Island — Church Government in Massachussetts — 
Cambridge platform — Saybrook platform — Half-way Covenant — 
Education in the Colonies : Harvard, Yale, Columbia, Princeton — 
Theologians — Hutchinsonianism — Solomon Stoddard's view of the 
Lord's Supper — Religious life — Witchcraft delusion — Missions— Eliot 
— Sargeant— Brainerd 309-320 

CHAPTER XVI. 

THE NATIONAL ERA. 



Low condition of religion— Deism and infidelity — Revival of 1796-1803 — 
Free Church system — Denominationalism — The Episcopal Church — 
Timothy Cutler — White — Seabury — Low Church and Broad Church — 
Rise of Unitarianism — Parker — Transcendentalism — New England 
Theology — Missions of Congregationalists — Emerson — Baptists — Mis- 
sions— Campbellites — Presbyterians in New England — Makemie 
Disruption of 1745-1748 — Disruption of 1837 — Cumberland Presbyte- 
rian Southern Church— Presbyterian missions— Dutch and German Re- 
formed Churches — Lutherans — Methodism — Divisions — Roman Catho- 
lics—Archbishop Carroll— Universalists— Relly — Murray, „ , , . 321-334 



INTRODUCTION. 



Every writer on education recognizes the fine influence 
exerted by the study of history in disciplining and cul- 
tivating the faculties and in enlarging the intellectual 
horizon. The study of history can best be pursued from 
the point of view of the Christian Church. For the 
Christian Church, as the exponent, guardian and mis- 
sionary of the Christian religion, not only is entrusted 
with the most important interests of individual men 
and of human society, but, for that very reason, stands 
in the most intimate and complex relations to all 
other institutions and forces, and to all events which 
affect the welfare of mankind. In this view of it, the 
history of the Christian Church is the history of man from 
the standpoint of religion ; and this is the true stand- 
point. No other point of view embraces within its range 
so large a prospect, or presents its details in their pro- 
foundest inter-relations. In these respects, the point of 
view of politics, or of the fine arts, or of science, or of 
industry and commerce, or of all combined in the term 
civilization, must yield to that of religion, and especially 
of Christianity considered as the absolute and therefore 
the universal religion. 

For religion, after all, is the central, persistent and uni- 
versal historical force and cause. The claim made by 
St. Paul (Rom. i. 16) that the gospel is the power of God 



2 INTRODUCTION. 

(duvapusOeou) is by nothing more strikingly and abundantly 
confirmed, than by the history of the peoples of Europe 
and America since this gospel has entered as a force 
into their civilizations. No one can read the great and 
accepted histories of these peoples or of sections of them, 
such as Gibbon's Rome, Guizot's Civilization, Hallam's 
Middle Ages, Robertson's Charles V., Hume's England, 
Macaulay's English Revolution, Motley's Rise of the 
Dutch Republic, Bancroft's United States and others 
which need not be mentioned here, without being pro- 
foundly impressed by the fact, that all of these great his- 
torians, whether deists, moderates, or believing Christians, 
agree in the belief that not politics but religion is the 
greatest of historical energies, the true historical cause of 
causes. For this reason, it is through the study of the 
history of Christianity that we have a right to hope that 
we shall achieve and be able finally to formulate the 
philosophy of history. 

But how shall the history of Christianity be studied? 
What can the layman or theological student or clergy- 
man do, in order to grasp surely and hold in his mind 
this vast and complicated mass of facts? We all know 
that the materials of history are so abundant and so 
various, that when one first thinks of them with a view to 
their mastery, he is apt to be overwhelmed and to abandon 
the task in sheer despair. 

This despair, I believe, would in most cases be dissi- 
pated if the student were to give himself in the first place 
to the modest work of making himself perfectly familiar 
with a brief and trustworthy outline of Church history. At 
all events, the mastery of such an outline is an indispen- 
sable prerequisite to the interested and intelligent study of 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

the subject. One must have a synoptic view of the whole 
life of Christianity in the world, in order to understand the 
detailed narrative of a particular historical personage or 
period or movement. Hence the writer who contributes 
a satisfactory outline of Church history, that is to say, an 
outline marked by clearness, reasonable fullness, accu- 
racy and true perspective, renders a great service to all 
historical students and readers. 

Precisely this great service has been rendered by my 
friend and former colleague, Prof. A. C. Zenos, of Mc- 
Cormick Theological Seminary, in the volume I have the 
great honor thus to introduce. I know no better outline 
than this one. The author's knowledge of the sources 
and literature of the subject is exceptionally large. The 
conception of history which dominates his book is the true 
conception. He holds that the historical movement is 
vital and organic. And his experience as Professor of 
History in one of the largest and most influential of the 
theological seminaries of the Church has enabled him to 
adjust his volume to the needs of theological students. 
His work merits a wide circulation and faithful studv. 



JOHN DEWITT. 



Princeton Theological Seminary, 
July 13th, 1896. 



PRELIMINARY. 



History is either the sum and substance of events them- 
selves or the narrative and record of those events. It is 

that which happens or a true account of it. The 
History. word may be and is used legitimately in both 

of these senses. As long as it is clearly under- 
stood which of the meanings is attached to it there is, of 
course, no harm from this twofold use of the term. His- 
tory as a study, as a species of literature and a science, 
deals with the second of the two conceptions above 
named. It is an attempt to represent to the mind as 
truthfully as possible, that is,in its chronological andgenetic 
flow the history that has taken place. By as much as this 
is accomplished, by as much, that is to say, as the record 
corresponds with the events that have occurred, the true 
and complete idea of history is fulfilled. It becomes 
therefore extremely important to begin with a clear con- 
ception of the special field which the student of any 
special history is about to enter. 

In a very broad sense Church History has been de- 
fined as the history of God's people on earth. In this 

sense it begins with the creation of the first 
Church His- human pair. When by the Fall the human race 

forfeited as a unit the title and the privileges 
of the people of God, a promise was given of restoration 
(Gen. iii. 1 5). In the fulfillment of this promise two stages 
are to be distinguished : First the period of the unfold- 
ing of the promise. This, regarded from another point of 
view, is a period of preparation. A portion of the race 
was separated, made the special guardian of the promise 
and subject of its beneficent provisions. The promise 
itself became more and more clearly revealed, not only to 

S 



6 CHURCH HISTORY. 

the people that received it, but to the world through 
them. Church history during this stage of the develop- 
ment of the promise is the history of this specially favored 
portion of the human race. They are the people of God. 
The second stage in the realization of the promise begins 
with the actual and complete fulfillment of it in the person 
of Jesus Christ. Appearing within the people of God as 
organized in the first stage, Jesus Christ proclaimed the 
kingdom of God. He called to his side a body of men 
whom he especially instructed and trained to be the 
leaders of the new order of things. He promised them 
the Holy Spirit to take his own place as their guide, when 
he himself should leave them, and to enlighten their 
minds as occasion should present itself in the perfecting 
of the new dispensation. Accordingly, at the proper time, 
the Holy Spirit was bestowed upon the disciples of Jesus, 
and they spontaneously formed themselves into a new 
community. Ever since that occasion Church history has 
been the history of this new or Christian community. 

While the above is a very broad and in many respects 
logical idea of Church history, usage has settled down to 

a slightly different one. It has been the prac- 
Historyofthe tice, uniform for a long time past, to speak of 
ChurcS n Church history as the history, in a loose sense 

of the Christian Church, leaving out the pre- 
Christian part of the history of God's people for another 
rubric under one of several titles, such as History of the 
Jewish Church, The History of Israel, The History of the 
'Old Testament, etc. Church history, according to this 
almost universal practice, includes only the second stage 
of the history of God's people as above described. In the 
search for a clearer conception of the field of Church his- 
tory we are thus led to limit ourselves to the inquiry, 
What is the Christian Church ? 

The Christian Church is that spiritual society which 
Jesus Christ founded to participate in the benefits of the 

kingdom of God and communicate the same to 
The Christian the whole world. This society is essentially a 

Church, visible • •, i • 1 •. - j ■• ■ 

and invisible, spiritual organization, and its true and inner 
history transcends the observation of the 



PRELIMINARY. ? 

senses. Its Head is the glorified Jesus Christ himself, 
and its organizing force the Holy Spirit. Yet it is mani- 
fested first, in an outward fellowship, consisting of all those 
who profess their faith in Jesus, then in clearly defined 
forms of religious life, and lastly in institutions calculated 
to promote the spiritual life according to the ideals pre- 
sented by its great Head. To distinguish between the 
Church of Jesus Christ strictly conceived of and the out- 
ward and institutional manifestations of the same, the ad- 
jectives " visible " and " invisible " have been and are some- 
times used. While these adjectives express a difference 
and may serve a good purpose, it is more convenient practi- 
cally to set aside this distinction. Church history cannot, 
after all, be the history of the Christian Church either in its 
invisible or its visible form. The history of the invisible 
Church, from the nature of the case, cannot be studied 
scientifically, and as for the visible form of it, it would en- 
tail very much research and division of opinion to undertake 
to determine what the Church is in this sense, besides de- 
parting from that usage which has already been appealed 
to as favoring the idea of Church history as the history of 
the Christian Church only in a loose sense. More precisely, 
then, Church history is the history of Christianity. It is 
only on the basis of this conception of it that we shall see 
the propriety of beginning, as Church historians uniformly 
do, with the organization of Christianity in the Apostolic 
age, and including in our survey all the facts which either 
directly or indirectly have issued from or centered in 
Christianity. 

The relation of Church history to secular history on 
the basis of this idea will appear much closer than the 

terms secular and ecclesiastical strictly con- 
cwh History strued would lead one to suppose. Christi- 
History! 1 anity is planted in the world with the evident 

purpose of conveying to the world certain bene- 
fits. Whether it endeavor to do this by attracting the 
world into its own organized society, or diffusing itself 
through the world of human society in some inexplicable 
way, as some of its most recent interpreters claim it must 
do, it stands in the closest relations to the world. The 



8 CHURCH HISTORY. 

stream of the world's history cannot run separately and in 
a parallel channel to its own, but must mingle, and at 
times be identical with it. To attempt to disentangle 
Church history from secular history is to shut off much of 
the light in which the facts of Church history must be 
seen in order to be correctly interpreted. 

The advantages of the study of Church history to 

ministers and theologians are very apparent. The same 

advantages exist in this study for others than 

tf d thTstud ministers and theologians. Some of these 

may be specially mentioned. 

First, the subject is full of interest in itself. There is 
in this field enough to arrest the attention, to stimulate 
thought and gratify the thirst for information which ex- 
ists, and should exist, in every healthy human soul. 

Secondly, for the Christian this natural interest is en- 
hanced by the consciousness that he is here face to face 
with his spiritual pedigree. The Church of the past is 
his ancestry. If he feel his vital connection with the 
people of God, he appropriates to himself some share in 
the best deeds of the best men the world has produced. 
If he lack this feeling, no means will be found more effect- 
ual in arousing it in him than the actual contact with 
these men and deeds. 

Thirdly, Church history, as dealing with the course of 
the kingdom of God on earth, appeals to the interest of 
the Christian in the divine purpose. Even if one were to 
be indifferent to its attractions as a field in which he 
might learn of his own spiritual ancestry, as a field where 
he has an opportunity to trace the fortunes of a divine in- 
stitution and a divine purpose, it should not fail to attract 
the Christian. 

Fourthly, the study is full of instruction. History is 
said to repeat itself. This is not only true but practically 
an extremely valuable truth to bear in mind. The past 
is full of parallels to the present. One who has familiar- 
ized himself with these will not find himself at a loss as 
to how to meet difficulties. The successes of those who 
in the past met the situations that confront him will guide 
him also to success if he imitate their course ; and their 



PRELIMINARY. 9 

failures will warn him to avoid their mistakes. Many 
apparently new ideas he will recognize as old errors ex- 
ploded long ago, and avoid the snare thus spread before 
him. 

Fifthly, the student of history is bound to grow more 
and more broad and catholic as he understands the 
secrets of his science. He will learn to love men of other 
names and persuasions than his own. He will see the 
breadth of the true Church of God. He will enter into 
the controversies of past ages with a calm mind and see 
much good in the side which was perhaps mainly wrong. 
He will see, on the other hand, much wrong in the side 
which was in the main right. He will learn thus to dis- 
trust mere partisan feeling and acquire the habit of 
entering into present-day debates with earnestness, and 
yet with consideration for those who may differ from 
him. 

Finally, the student of Church history cannot but be 
inspired and stimulated by the noble lives and great 
thoughts of the saints of God. As he comes in contact 
with those who sacrificed their lives in testimony of the 
truth in which they believed and for the love of their 
Master, he will feel himself rebuked for every impulse to 
refuse to sacrifice ; he will be stimulated to earnestness 
and enthusiasm in the Christian life. 

The divisions of Church history must be based on 
pivotal events in the life of the Church. While history 
in general, and ecclesiastical history in partic- 
Divisionsof ul&T, is continuous, yet certain critical mo- 
tory^ ments in it furnish logical and convenient 

points of partition into periods. Different 
views have been put forth as to which are the epoch-mak- 
ing events of Church history and consequently different 
schemes of periodology have been proposed. Perhaps 
the one which combines the largest number of consid- 
erations in its favor is that which has gained in acceptance 
in recent years. According to this scheme there are to be 
distinguished three main periods in the history of the 
Christian Church as follows : 

I. The Ancient Period beginning with the Advent of 



io INTRODUCTION. 

Jesus Christ 4 B. C. and extending to the accession of 
Gregory I. (the Great), A. D. 590. 

II. The Mediaeval Period beginning with the accession 
of Gregory I., A. D. 590, and extending to the opening of 
the Reformation A. D. 15 17. 

III. The Modern Period beginning with the Reforma- 
tion and extending to the present time, A. D. 15 17-1896. 

These large periods may be further subdivided into 
epochs or ages as follows : 
I. The Ancient Period into : 

1. The Apostolic Age, to the death of the last of the 
Apostles, or about A. D. 100. 

2. The Sub- Apostolic Age, to the Rise of the Catholic 
Church, or about A. D. 170. 

3. The Ante-Nicene Epoch, to the Council of Nicaea, 
A. D. 325. 

4. The Post-Nicene Epoch, to the end of the Ancient 
Period, A. D. 590. 

II. The Mediaeval Period : 

1. The Development of the Papacy, to the foundation 
of the Holy Roman Empire, A. D. 800. 

2. The Papacy and the Holy Roman Empire, to the 
accession of Hildebrand, A. D. 1073. 

3. The Ascendancy of the Papacy, to A. D. 1294. 

4. The Decline of the Papacy, to the end of the Medi- 
aeval Period, A. D. 1517. 

III. The Modern Period : 

1. The Reformation Generation, to A. D. 1555. 

2. The Consolidation of the Reformation, to the Treaty 
of Westphalia, A. D. 1648. 

3. The Post-Reformation Epoch, to the French Revo- 
lution, A. D. 1789. 

4. The Contemporaneous Age, or the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury, to the Present day. 



PART I. THE ANCIENT PERIOD. 

(4 B. C.-A. D. 590.) 



CHAPTER I. 
CONDITION OF THE WORLD. 

Christianity made its appearance in the world after 
a thorough preparation. " When the fullness of the time 
was come, God sent forth his Son." This 
? re ch r * tion preparation was not merely that made in Pal- 
anity. estine through God's chosen people, but 

throughout the pagan world by means of the 
religious, philosophical and political ideas and institutions 
developed in Europe and Asia and the northern coast of 
Africa. 

The world of paganism prepared the way for Christi- 
anity through the two successive waves emanating re- 
., . spectively from the predominance of the Greek 

Contnbution r J . r 

of Greece to and the Roman influence. I he contnbu- 
this preparation. tion of the Gree k world t0 this preparation 

consists in the elaboration of intellectual systems and 
the cultivation of the aesthetic faculty. Philosophy and 
Art, though perhaps not directly entering into the first 
forms in which the gospel was preached, opened the way 
for the better understanding and appreciation of its depths 
and refinements. Philosophy, especially after having run 
a full cycle of thought under the earlier philosophers, and 
again under Socrates, Plato and Aristotle, had despaired 
of attaining its object, that is, the ultimate unity and ex- 
planation of all things. It was at the time of the appear- 

11 



12 CHURCH HISTORY. 

ance of Christianity pointing to a certain philosophic 
monotheism as the only residue from the thoughts and 
labors of centuries. This was naturally combined in the 
Stoic system with a certain appreciation of rigid, disinter- 
ested morality. The value of these Greek elements was 
enhanced by their spread through the conquests of Alex- 
ander and the domination of his successors in Syria and 
Egypt. The Macedonian armies, like the inundation of a 
great river, carried Greek philosophy, and especially the 
Greek language, into the immediate region in which the 
gospel was to be preached. These, therefore, presented 
ready forms and a suitable vehicle for the dissemination 
of the gospel. 

The contribution of the Roman world to the preparation 
of the world for the gospel was similar to that of the 

Greek world and yet different. It consisted 
Contribution mainly in the unification of the whole civilized 

world by means of Roman arms and of Ro- 
man law and government, which served also as a model and 
a mould in many particulars for the Christian Church when 
it came to be organized more fully than its first founders 
had left it. At the time of the appearance of our Lord on 
earth the Roman Empire extended from the Euphrates to 
the Atlantic Ocean and from the Rhine to the African 
desert. Though perhaps not equally throughout this vast 
territory, yet over a large portion of it, the authority of the 
powerful government of Rome had made travel, commerce 
and intercourse safe and easy. The missionary journeys 
of the apostles were thus made possible or at any rate 
facilitated. 

Alongside of these positive elements, which may be re- 
garded as, in general, helpful to the cause of the gospel, 

the heathen world, both in its Greek and 
Corrupt Re- Roman branches developed the negative fea- 
Cs an tures of a corrupt religious life and a degraded 

morality. Polytheism, such as prevailed with 
the masses among the Greeks and Romans, had had its 
full and legitimate effect. Superstition and empty form- 
alism were the only manifestations of the religious feel- 
ing. The religion of Rome came to be officially called 



CONDITION OF THE WORLD. 



13 



"the Roman ceremonies." And as for morals, the pages 
of the most popular writers of the day, together with the 
portraitures on the walls of the houses excavated at 
Pompeii, unite with the apostle's terrible arraignment of the 
foul practices openly indulged in at the time (Rom. 1 : 19- 
32). Thus while paganism was paving the way for Christ 
through the good it was developing within itself in the 
form of Greek philosophy and art and Roman law and 
government, it was also leading men, through the back 
way of revulsion, disgust, and despair, to entertain in a 
friendly spirit any system that might arouse hope and ap- 
peal to the better instincts and impulses of their nature. 
Meantime Judaism developed some specific features 
during the generations immediately preceding the advent 

of Jesus Christ. The Babylonian Captivity 
Judaism. seems to have permanently cured the Jews of 

that tendency to assimilate with the surround- 
ing nations, against which their lawgivers, priests and 
prophets had preached almost in vain during the previous 
ages. From 445 B. C, when the Restoration from the 
Exile was completed under Nehemiah, to about 170 B. C, 
when Antiochus Epiphanes began his efforts to Hellenize 
them (convert them to paganism), they became more and 
more firmly intrenched in their belief in Jehovah as the 
true God, in the law as contained in the Pentateuch, in 
the prophetic utterances and in " the other Scriptures," 
as containing God's will, and in the coming of the Mes- 
siah, as the one great future event. 

The law thus came to be the center of the public re- 
ligious life of the Jewish nation. Within the Holy Land 

the interpretation of the national religion gave 
The Pharisees, rise to two parties or sects. The first of these 

was the party of the Pharisees. They appear as 
a party as early as the age of the Maccabees. They stood 
for the broad and inclusive view of the national religion. 
The law to them involved a certain body of tradition. 
They saw a connection between the national history and 
the national law. The ideas of a world of spiritual beings, 
of a resurrection and a future life, of a Messianic kingdom 
and a radical distinction between Jew and Gentile, between 



14 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



perfect observance of the provisions of the ceremonial 
part of the law and the neglect of it, were to them essen- 
tials of Judaism. They were the orthodox or religious 
party, and did much to keep alive in the mind of the 
people some of the ideas which were to be most useful 
to Christianity. 

The Sadducees stood for the narrower construction of 
the old law. They rejected all tradition. They took a 
materialistic view of the world, denying the 
The Sadducees. reality of spiritual existences and of immor- 
tality to man. They interpreted the Old Tes- 
tament Scriptures consistently with these views. They 
were, however, a powerful party, because their ranks 
were filled mainly from the men of wealth and dignity, 
and they were often in places of influence and authority. 
Along with the Pharisees and Sadducees it is customary 
to name the Essenes as a party. These, however, were 
not so much a party or sect as a community 
The Essenes. or order. Their principles were partly Sad- 
ducean and partly Pharisaic. With the Phari- 
sees they held to the virtue of observing the law in its 
details. In fact they went beyond the Pharisees in 
making it a condition and a rule of membership in their 
community to observe a prescribed form of ceremonial 
for purification, and to practice a rather rigid asceticism. 
With the Sadducees they rejected the doctrine of the 
resurrection of the body, though perhaps not on the ground 
of disbelief in the reality of spirit, but because of a certain 
sense of the inherent unworthiness of the body to be 
raised from the dead. Their view on this point was allied 
to that which later grew to be Gnostic and Manichaean. 

In the practical carrying out of the idea of the law as 
the central feature of the national religion, two new 
features appeared, viz. the scribes, or law- 
S o ri ue S ' Syna y ers > as a c ^ ass or profession whose chief aim 
and employment it was to study, explain and 
teach the law to others ; and the synagogue, which began 
as a voluntary association or club for the purpose of better 
acquaintance with the law, and developed into a sort of 
secondary or auxiliary worship. The meetings held at 



CONDITION OF THE WORLD. IS 

first for the study of the Scriptures were enlarged in scope 
by the addition of prayer and the singing of psalms to the 
order of exercises. 

Outside of Palestine Judaism assumed a slightly vari- 
ant character in the so-called Dispersion (Diaspora). The 

geographical field of the Dispersion was very 
The Dispersion, large. It included, first of all, the Mesopo- 

tamian valley, where a large number of Jews 
remained after the Exile. Upon the founding of Alex- 
andria a Jewish colony found its way into the new city, 
and thence overspread into other portions of Egypt and 
Africa, being reinforced subsequently by large numbers 
of men who were attracted by the success and pros- 
perity of their fellow-countrymen in these regions. Thus 
many Jews came to dwell in Libya and Cyrene. There 
were also Jews in smaller numbers in other parts of the 
Roman Empire, especially in Asia Minor and in Arabia. 
These all looked on Jerusalem as the center of their 
national life and on the temple as the unifying institution. 
In a single instance this sentiment was violated ; that 
was the case of the Jews of Leontopolis who under Onias 
built a temple in that city, on the ground that the high 
priest at Jerusalem was not the rightful occupant of the 
office. 

The contact of the Jews of the Dispersion with the 
Gentiles produced its most marked effects in Alexandria. 

Here the Old Testament Scriptures were trans- 
Alexandrian lated into Greek and circulated among Jews 

Influence. . . . i*. • 

and Gentiles. 1 his translation, which tradition 
ascribes as a whole to the time of Ptolemy Philadelphus 
(283 B. C.), was no doubt made little by little for several 
generations. The old Testament Apocrypha were attached 
to it as a supplement bringing Jewish history down to a later 
date. The effect of the Septuagint on the Jews especially 
was to lead them to compare the writings of their own 
prophets with those of the Greek philosophers, with whose 
works they had meanwhile become familiar. Thus there 
arose the tendency to identify the thoughts of the Hebrew 
writers with those of the Greeks. The attempt was made 
to find an agreement between Moses and Plato. To ac* 



1 6 CHURCH HISTORY. 

complish this end, however, it was necessary to interpret 
away a great portion of the Old Testament. A school of 
allegorists, of whom Philo was the chief, arose, and the 
allegorical method of interpretation was elaborated. 

The Gentiles who were attracted by Judaism, either 
through the influence of the Septuagint or by contact 

with the Jews, and accepted their monotheistic 
Proselytes. faith, taking part also in some of the religious 

observances and acknowledging the moral law, 
were designated " proselytes of the gate " (" devout " 
Acts ii. 5 ; xvii. 4, 17). Others who went further and 
sought and obtained formal admittance into the common- 
wealth of Israel by submitting to circumcision (women 
simply by baptism), were known as "proselytes of right- 
eousness " (Acts ii. 10 ; vi. 5 ; xiii. 43). 

Besides the Jews and the Gentiles another element must 
be taken into account in a survey of the condition of affairs 

at the time of the first appearance of Chris- 
Samaritans. tianity in the world. This is the Samaritans. 

The Samaritans occupied an intermediate 
place between the Jews and Gentiles in every way. His- 
torically they were partly of Hebrew and partly of heathen 
origin. When Sargon led the inhabitants of the Northern 
kingdom captive, he colonized their territories by sending 
into them certain Babylonians (2 Kings xvii. 24). These 
colonists mingled with the remnant of Israelites left at the 
time of the deportation, and the race resulting from the in- 
termarriages was the Samaritan. In religious belief the 
Samaritans occupied the same middle ground. They ac- 
cepted the Pentateuch as Scripture, but not the rest of 
the Old Testament. Geographically they were on the 
borders of Judaism. They were hated and shunned by 
the Jews and reciprocated these sentiments. 

Politically Palestine maintained a sort of semi-inde- 
pendence acquired under the Maccabees during the 

middle of the second century B. C. About the 
PoHtkal enc j f t hj s century, however, it gradually 

passed into a condition of absolute independ- 
ence. This was preserved under the princes Hyrcanus, 
Aristobulus and Alexander Jannveus ; but a dispute arose 



CONDITION OF THE WORLD. 



17 



between Aristobulus II., and Hyrcanus II., and gave oc- 
casion to the Romans to interfere. Judaea was subju- 
gated ; Hyrcanus II. was given the title of king and 
high priest, but Antipater, an Idumean general, who had 
won the favor of the Romans, became the real master of 
Judaea. Through a series of machinations and deeds of 
violence, the son of Antipater, Herod the Great, usurped 
the throne and established the Idumean dynasty (39 
B. C). 



CHAPTER II. 

THE APOSTOLIC AGE (4 B. C.-A. D. IOO). 

The Founding of the Church. 

Jesus Christ was born, according to the most trust- 
worthy calculations, during the last year of Herod's reign 

(four years before the traditional date) at 
f irt christ e " Bethlehem of Judaea. He was, in accordance 

with the prophecies concerning him, descended 
from the royal line of David, " conceived by the Holy 
Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary." His public appear- 
ance and work were announced by John the Baptist, son 
of Zacharias, in the fifteenth year of Tiberius, emperor of 
Rome. At this time Christ, being about thirty years of 
age, was baptized by John and received a double sign of 
the approval of his ministry in the descent of the Holy 
Spirit upon him " in the form of a dove " and in the voice 
from heaven which declared : "This is my beloved Son, 
in whom I am well pleased." 

After a sojourn of forty days in the wilderness, and a 
temptation, Jesus began his public ministry. He spent 

one year at Jerusalem announcing himself to 
rSuh 17 and tne rulers of the people as the Messiah that had 

been predicted and was expected. On being 
rejected or ignored as such at this time, he withdrew to 
Galilee with his disciples, and there taught the multitudes 
proclaiming the kingdom of God and performing many mir- 
acles, of healing, having called to his side twelve men to be 
his pupils, assistants, and witnesses. When his preach- 
ing seemed to have met with the largest success at this 
place, he withdrew again with his disciples into Northern 
Galilee, and there spent some time instructing them as to 
18 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE. ig 

his own death and resurrection. Having completed this 
instruction he went to Jerusalem during the season of the 
Passover feast. Here, where his popularity in Galilee 
had meantime excited the fears of the rulers, he was 
seized and delivered into the hands of the Roman pro- 
curator of Judaea, Pontius Pilate, and by him, though 
without sufficient cause, ordered to be crucified. He was 
buried, but on the third day, according to his own pre- 
diction, he rose again, and showed himself to his disciples. 
He then passed forty days, meeting with them at different 
times, and at the end of that period ascended into heaven. 
But just before his ascension at the Mount of Olives he 
bade his disciples stay at Jerusalem until they should re- 
ceive the Holy Spirit whom he promised to send them 
from the Father. 

In obedience to the Master's request the apostles re- 
mained in Jerusalem awaiting the realization of his prom- 
ise to send the Holy Spirit. This expectation 
Pentecost. was fulfilled on the day of Pentecost, when 
the Spirit came upon them. His descent was 
externally symbolized by the appearance of tongues of 
flame which fell upon each apostle. At the same time 
other extraordinary manifestations called the attention of 
many residents of the city and strangers from all parts of 
the world, who were gathered in it, to the place where the 
disciples were assembled. The apostle Peter, acting as the 
spokesman of these in explanation of the strange things 
that had happened, preached Jesus Christ as the Messiah. 
Three thousand immediately believed on Jesus and were 
baptized. Encouraged by this success and enlightened 
as well as emboldened by the Holy Spirit, the disciples 
now preached Jesus as the Messiah in the temple and 
elsewhere, and, although opposed by the Pharisees and 
Sadducees, their message met with favor and acceptance 
among the common people. A community of about five 
thousand believers grew around the apostles, all of whom 
were characterized by religious fervor, manifesting itself 
in a joyful and devotional disposition and in an exceptional 
development of fraternal love, leading them to have and 
enjoy all things in common. 



20 CHURCH HISTORY. 

The harmony which prevailed in the Christian com- 
munity was interrupted, but very slightly, by the com- 
plaints of some who had been neglected in 
SuSt n y al C a£" the distribution of the necessities of life held, 
pointmentof as has been said, and used in common. These 
were Hellenists— Grecians, — including perhaps 
Jews, who had through residence in Greek-speaking com- 
munities, adopted the Greek language and Greek customs, 
and proselytes to Judaism from among Greek-speaking 
heathen. Accordingly, seven men were chosen, and the 
name of " deacon " was given them, in order that they 
might superintend the distribution at the table. Thus 
with the increasing need for organization as brought to 
light upon occasion, the community organized itself by 
appointing suitable officers. 

Thus far the Church was, as far as we know, limited to 
Jerusalem and consisted of Jews and Hellenists. The 
occasion which served as the first impulse 
Stephen " 1 ° f towar ds the carrying of the gospel beyond 
these limits was furnished by the conduct and 
experiences of one of these newly appointed deacons. 
The zeal of Stephen in disseminating the knowledge of 
Jesus Christ and urging men to accept him, led to his 
being arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin. As 
he boldly preached the new dispensation even in this pres- 
ence, he was stoned to death and at the same time a 
severe persecution arose, scattering the disciples into ad- 
jacent regions. 

Wherever they went, however, the disciples made known 

the new " way " and gained adherents to it. Philip 

preached at Samaria. Peter and John recog- 

Preachingin nized and extended his work, and thus Chris- 

Samana. . r . 7 , . 

tianity passed out of strict Judaism. Jbor the 
admission of Samaritans into the brotherhood was a rad- 
ical departure from the narrow views of the strict Jews, 
who hated the Samaritans even worse than the heathen. 
At Samaria the apostles were called upon to contend with 
a peculiar danger — that from selfish impostors. Simon, 
called the magician, externally embraced Christianity, 
but when it was found that his motive and intention were 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 21 

to gain glory and wealth for himself by so doing, he was 
reprimanded and cast out of the Church. 

Besides the Samaritans, other semi-Jewish elements 
were admitted into the Church during this transitional 
period (A. D. 30-37). Philip was directed 
Preaching to to p re ach Christ to the eunuch of Queen Can- 
dace, an Ethiopian, and eventually baptized 
him. Peter was similarly directed to lead the Roman 
centurion Cornelius into the Church through the preaching 
of the grace of God and baptism. Both of these conver- 
sions were conversions not from Judaism, but from that 
class of heathen who had been attracted by Judaism and 
attached themselves more or less intimately with it as 
proselytes. 

But the broadening effect of the persecution accompany- 
ing the martyrdom of Stephen did not rest with the ad- 
mission of the intermediate classes (Samari- 
Gen a tiies ng t0 tans anc * P r °selytes) into the Church. Cer- 
tain " men of Cyprus and Cyrene " who per- 
haps had heard Peter himself report the conversion of 
Cornelius to the disciples at Jerusalem, undertook at 
Antioch to preach the gospel to pure Gentiles. Their 
labors met with large success. " A great number that 
believed turned unto the Lord." The church at Jerusa- 
lem, on hearing of this, sent Barnabas to inquire into the 
matter. Barnabas found all the marks of the work of the 
Holy Spirit in this new movement, and gladly recognized 
it. It was these disciples at Antioch who first had the 
name of " Christian " applied to them. 

Meantime the man who was to lead this new departure 
in the Church was being prepared by a series of provi- 
dences. This was Saul of Tarsus. At the 
Paui versi ° n ° f mar tyrdom of Stephen, Saul is reported as 
present and taking care of the garments of 
those who stoned the martyr, as well as " consenting to 
his death." His parentage and previous education both 
tended to make him a zealous persecutor of Christians. 
He was a Jew of pure lineage, a strict Pharisee, trained 
at the feet of the celebrated rabbi Gamaliel at Jerusalem, 
though a native of the great commercial city of Tarsus 



22 CHURCH HISTORY. 

and a Roman citizen. During the persecution which fol- 
lowed the death of Stephen he took an active part. 
While on a journey to Damascus to search for Christians, 
in order to bring them captive to Jerusalem, he was struck 
blind by a vision of the Lord Jesus Christ. His conver- 
sion followed and was complete. After a brief inter- 
course with Ananias and other Christians at Damascus, 
he spent several years in meditation and subordinate 
labors as a preacher of the gospel of Jesus Christ. It 
was during this period of his life that Barnabas sought for 
him and brought him to Antioch and associated him with 
himself in building up the church at Antioch. 

The church at Antioch soon grew to be aggressive in 

communicating the gospel to others. In connection with 

one of the services of worship held by the 

First Missionary c hurch and, under the special guiding influ- 

Journey. jt o o 

ence of the Holy Spirit, Saul and Barnabas 
were set apart to the work of taking the gospel to the ad- 
jacent regions. Accordingly they undertook what has been 
called Paul's " First Missionary Journey." Starting from 
Antioch they went to the island of Cyprus, and thence 
through Pamphylia, Pisidia, and Lycaonia, returning to 
Antioch to report of their work. Their method of proced- 
ure was at first to preach to the Jews in connection with 
the synagogue service ; but as many proselytes of the 
gate, both men and women, were converted under this 
preaching, and the Jews broke out in violent opposition, 
especially at Antioch in Pisidia, the missionaries began to 
preach directly to the Gentiles. It was during the early 
part of this journey that Saul appears as Paul. 

The continued growth of the church at Antioch and the 
accession of a large number of Gentiles raised the ques- 
tion of the relation of these Gentile Christians 
Question con- to the Mosaic law. Some held that converts 
christfaS entile from paganism should be admitted into the 
Christian Church upon profession of their faith, 
and baptism. Others insisted that they should be cir- 
cumcised and held subject to the whole law. In other 
words the Judaistic party considered Christianity as a 
mere continuation of Judaism, and would require converts 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 23 

from heathenism to become first " proselytes of righteous- 
ness " before admitting them to the Church, while the 
Pauline party looked upon the gospel as the fulfillment, 
and therefore the substitute, of the old law, and would 
admit such converts into the Church directly. The contro- 
versy assumed large proportions, and appears to have been 
mooted wherever the gospel was accepted by Gentiles. 

The question as it affected the church at Antioch was 
referred to an Assembly of representative Christians at 
Jerusalem, held perhaps in A. D. 50. Paul and 
jerus^km^ Barnabas with " certain others" were com- 
missioned to represent the church at Antioch. 
The Assembly having heard the reports of these represent- 
atives from Antioch and the views of the chief apostles, 
Peter and James the brother of the Lord, decreed that the 
Gentiles should not be compelled to observe the ritual law, 
and recommended that they should abstain from cer- 
tain idolatrous customs offensive to their Jewish brethren. 
This decision was communicated to the Antiochene church 
by delegates of the Assembly at Jerusalem. 

Soon after the communication of the decision of the 
Assembly at Antioch, Paul undertook to visit the Chris- 
tian communities established on his first mis- 
s.econd ^ Iis " sionary journey, but instead of returning to 

sionary Journey. . J J J> » 

Antioch when he had accomplished this work, 
he turned his face northward and went through Syria into 
Asia Minor, preaching in Cilicia, Phrygia and Galatia. 
He then crossed into Europe, establishing the first Euro- 
pean Christian community at Philippi, and thence went 
southward into Greece as far as Corinth. Here he spent 
more time than at other places, attempting to overcome 
the natural obstacles in the way of the gospel. Having 
succeeded in founding a church on a solid basis, he went 
to Ephesus, and thence to Jerusalem, thus closing his 
second missionary journey. 

On a third missionary tour Paul again visited Galatia 
and Phrygia, proceeding thence to Ephesus, which he 

made the scene of an energetic missionary 
Third Mis- effort; thence he went to Macedonia and 

sionary Journey. ^ ' . r r „ , ,.. A 

Greece, returning by way of Proas, Miletus 



24 CHURCH HISTORY. 

and Tyre, Ptolemais and Caesarea, to Jerusalem in time 
for the Passover of the year 58 A. D. Here his presence in 
the temple irritated the Jews and occasioned a violent 
disturbance, which was quelled only by the arrival on the 
scene of a company of Roman soldiers. By these he was 
carried as a prisoner to the garrison. Making known his 
Roman citizenship, he escaped violence, but was detained 
for two years by Felix, and under Festus, the successor 
of Felix, he appealed to Caesar and was taken to Rome in 
A. D. 60 or 61. At Rome he was kept in custody, but al- 
lowed a considerable amount of freedom ; so that he con- 
tinued to preach the gospel to those who came to his 
" lodging." Thus were passed the years 61-63 A. D. He 
was then set free and engaged in other missionary labors of 
which only traditional accounts are left. Finally he was 
arrested a second time in A. D. 67 and put to death, as tra- 
dition has it, on the same occasion as Peter, though being 
a Roman citizen, the form of his martyrdom was through 
the sword. 

Of the labors of the other apostles there are but scanty 
items of information, and most of these are based on 

traditions. It appears quite clear that the 
Peter. apostle Peter was not for twenty-five years 

the bishop of the Roman Church ; but there 
is no reason to doubt the truth of the tradition that he 
spent his last days there, and that he was put to death by 
crucifixion on the same day as Paul. It has been al- 
leged on the basis of a mystical allusion in one of his 
epistles that his ministry was passed in the Mesopotamian 
Babylon (1 Peter v. 13). But this is perhaps a name used 
by Christians at this period to designate Rome. 

James the son of Zebedee was early beheaded by com- 
mand of Herod Agrippa (Acts xii. 2) before the year 44 

A. D. James, the brother of the Lord, became 
James. t ne leader of the church at Jerusalem and was 

distinguished for uprightness of character, for 
which reason he was surnamed the Just. He labored in 
Jerusalem and suffered martyrdom, being for his faith in 
Jesus thrown down by the people from the pinnacle of 
the temple and stoned. 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 2 S 

Andrew is said to have preached in Scythia and to 
have suffered martyrdom by being bound to a cross with 

cords. Philip also preached in Scythia 
The other Apos-^ accor ding to tradition) and was crucified and 

stoned at Hierapolis in Phrygia. Jude was 
bishop of Edessa in Syria and was put to death by the 
thrust of a lance. Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew and 
Simon Zelotes visited and preached in distant regions, 
such as Parthia, India, Ethiopia, Egypt, and Cyrene. 

John, the beloved disciple, undoubtedly took charge 
of the church at Ephesus after the departure of Paul. 

Here he lived to an extreme old age, and 
John. hence he exerted a large influence throughout 

the whole of Asia Minor, breaking the force 
of false teachings, both Jewish and heathen. In his la- 
ter years he is said to have been carried into the meet- 
ings of the Christians, and to have been in the habit 
of repeating the single exhortation, " Little children, love 
one another; " and when asked whether he had no other 
message, he replied " No ; because to love one another is 
to fulfill all the law." He was undoubtedly exiled to 
Patmos where he wrote the Apocalypse, whether before 
or after his settlement in Ephesus, under the reign of 
Nero or of Domitian, is a disputed question among Bibli- 
cal critics. He died under Trajan, or about the year ioo 
A. D., and thus his death constitutes the natural end of the 
Apostolic age of the Church. 

The relations of the Christian Church to the world 
during this period must be viewed from the standpoint 

of its origin. It appeared to be at first noth- 
The christian ' m & DU t a form of Judaism. The heathen at 

Church and the . ° ..*',. . 

World. the outset saw in it nothing more than a sect 

of Jews. The Jews themselves saw the gulf 
between them and the Christians : they repudiated and 
harassed the heretics, as they regarded them, to the ex- 
tent of their opportunities. But before the Roman 
authorities, as a form of Judaism Christianity was rec- 
ognized as a legal religion and protected. Accordingly, 
it was also protected from the molestations of fanatical 
Jews. As soon, however, as the difference between the 



26 CHURCH HISTORY. 

Jewish religion and Christianity became apparent, its 
legitimacy in the Roman world vanished. Moreover the 
laws of Rome were set against the holding of unli- 
censed meetings, the organization of fraternities and 
proselytism. Officially the Church might at any time 
have been viewed as a violation of these laws. As a matter 
of fact the authorities were slow to take cognizance of the 
existence of the Church. It was rather the common 
people whose animosity was roused against the Christians, 
mainly on account of their insisting on spiritual, that is 
to say, imageless worship, which was regarded as atheism, 
and their rigid morality and opposition to prevalent vices, 
which were regarded as innocent. The persecutions 
endured by Christians during this age were therefore of a 
private and limited nature. 

The persecution under Nero (A. D. 64) though public, 

owed its origin not to a political but to a personal motive. 

A great fire had broken out in the city and 

Persecutions ^d destroyed a large part of it. The people 

under Nero and J & * . T 

Domitian. suspected the emperor of being the incendiary, 
or, at any rate, of rejoicing in the event. To 
turn away suspicion from himself, Nero accused the 
Christians of the crime, and a large number of them 
were arrested, convicted and, according to the testimony 
of Tacitus (Annal. xv. 44), punished. Some were 
covered with the skins of wild beasts and worried to death 
by dogs. Others were nailed to crosses. Others were 
clothed in garments covered with tar and set on fire 
and their burning bodies used as torches at nightfall. 
A similar outbreak of hostility towards the Christians 
for unknown reasons took place under Domitiant( A. D. 
81-96). 

An event which was destined to exercise great in- 
fluence over the fortunes of the Church took place the 
year after the death of Nero. This was the 
fak lofJem " * a ^ °^ J erusa -l em - A rebellion headed by 
Galilean zealots broke out in Palestine. Ves- 
pasian, while engaged in putting down this rebellion, was 
raised to the throne by the Roman legions. He com- 
mitted to his son Titus the task of subduing the Jews and 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 



27 



assumed the imperial authority. Titus laid siege to Jeru- 
salem, and after a fierce and cruel struggle he captured 
the city. The temple was burned either intentionally or 
by accident. The mother church also perished in this 
calamity. But from another point of view the fall of 
Jerusalem proved a benefit to Christianity. Many Jewish 
Christians were weaned over from their love for the old 
forms, and the break between Christianity and Judaism 
was rendered final and absolute. 

The form of government of the apostolic Church 
was extremely simple. Christ appointed a " ministry." 
He used no names to designate the different 
chu ty h° f the c ^ asses or kinds of ministers that were to serve 
his Church; but as the work of the Church 
became more and more diversified in the hands 
of the disciples, and the outward needs of the Church 
became large enough to call for special forms of work and 
office, such offices were created. In this process of divi- 
sion of labor the Church probably used as its models other 
organizations already in existence. In Palestine and 
wherever the Christian community was an offshoot of 
Judaism, no doubt the synagogue furnished an example 
of organization. Among the Gentiles, especially where 
Roman institutions prevailed, the sodalitia or collegia 
(clubs for the purpose of mutual help, and especially for 
the burial of the dead) must have been of use in suggest- 
ing forms of organization. At any rate the offices found 
in the churches of the apostolic age are in general (1) 
that of the Presbyter (" elder ") or bishop (" overseer ")'. 
That these titles were used interchangeably, as indicative 
of one and the same office, is manifest from a compari- 
son of verses 17 and 28 of Acts XX. The former is the 
Greek equivalent of the Hebrew zakan (elder) and was 
adopted from the synagogue ; it was indicative of dignity 
and rule. The latter title was of Greek origin, indicative 
merely of oversight and government. It was the duty of 
the officer bearing this double title to watch over the 
flock, to "feed" and govern it. (2) To this was added 
the office of deacon, commissioned with the task of 
administering temporal affairs. Many other special func- 



28 CHURCH HISTORY. 

tions and labors are mentioned, particularly in the earlier 
portion of the period, but these were evidently meant for 
specific ends, which they accomplished and thus put an 
end to their own reason for existence. 

The form of worship of the primitive Church was 
also exceedingly simple. Meetings were held commonly 

on the first day of the week in private houses 
Worship. or in some public building appropriated to that 

purpose. At these meetings prayer was 
offered, portions of the Old Testament and letters from 
apostles were read, psalms and perhaps hymns were sung, 
and words " of exhortation " were spoken freely by any one 
who might feel moved to do this. 

Whether on special occasions, or in connection with 
each weekly service of worship it is not possible to tell, 

the Lord's Supper was celebrated. This was 
The Lord's j n t ne earliest times associated with a regular 

meal, as at its first institution. This meal, 
called a love feast (Agape), was liable to abuse, as we 
learn from Paul's rebuking such abuse in the Corinthian 
Church (i Cor. xi. 17 seq.). The fraternal relation of all 
Christians was signified at such love feasts by the "holy 
kiss " or " kiss of love." 

Baptism was administered upon admission to the 
Christian community as the symbol of the cleansing of the 

soul in regeneration. It was " into Christ " 
Baptism. or " into the name of Christ " and not only 

adults, but households were its subjects. 
As it was a mere symbol of cleansing, sometimes sprink- 
ling, sometimes effusion of water, and sometimes, per- 
haps, immersion in water were employed, each mode 
being regarded as sufficient and valid. 

Other practices of a temporary or local nature in the 
earliest Church were the " laying on of hands," which 

followed baptism and signified the imparta- 
Other Ordi- f-; on f t ne Holy Spirit ; and annointing with 

oil, which was accompanied by prayer for the 
sick. The only form of discipline was the exclusion of 
the guilty person from the Lord's Supper, or disfellow- 
ship. 



THE APOSTOLIC AGE. 2 g 

Literary activity in the Christian Church during the 

apostolic age was not extraordinarily prolific, but the 

products of it bear the marks of special divine 

Literary Activ- inspiration and are distinguished from all 

ltv. >V nting of . r . . , . ° , . . r . 

the New Testa- other writings by a vast impassable gulf. Al- 
ment. though it is not at all certain in what order the 

books of the New Testament were produced, yet it is 
likely that the first to see the light was the Epistle of 
James, being written before the difference between Juda- 
ism and Christianity became definite and sharp. This 
was probably between A. D. 44 and 48. Next came the 
earlier epistles of the apostle Paul. 1. and 2 Thessaloni- 
ans were written from Cornith in A. D. 52 or 53 upon the 
arrival of news from the church at Thessalonica. Then 
came the Epistle to the Galatians from Ephesus about A. D. 
57 followed in rather quick succession by the two letters 
to the Corinthians and that to the Romans, perhaps during 
the course of the next year. The Epistles to the Ephesi- 
ans, Philippians, Colossians and to Philemon were written 
from Rome during Paul's first imprisonment in that city. 
And the Pastoral epistles (1 and 2 Timothy and Titus) dur- 
ing the apostle's second imprisonment or about A. D. 67. 
Somewhat earlier than the last letters of Paul appeared 
the book of Acts (A. D. 63) giving an account of the spread 
of Christianity from Jerusalem through Samaria and " unto 
the uttermost parts of the earth." The First Epistle of 
Peter could not have been much later than A. D. 64 or 65 
or the era of the Neronian persecution, as it alludes to the 
sufferings of Christians for the " name," but the second 
bears in itself signs of a later date and has been some- 
times attributed to some other author than the apostle, 
perhaps his companion and secretary. It was written not 
much earlier than A. D. 70. The date of the Epistle of Jude 
may be only approximately given as A. D. 65-68, and the 
object of it was evidently to correct errors in life, into 
which Christians found themselves tempted to fall. The 
Epistle to the Hebrews was written before the destruction 
of the temple at Jerusalem but while serious temptations 
and troubles were threatening the Christians to whom it is 
addressed. It must have been produced therefore about 



3° 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



A. D. 69. The first three Gospels, commonly called "the 
Synoptics " were undoubtedly based on earlier sources in 
which there was very much of the material now forming 
the common stock of the synoptic accounts. But whether 
these sources were one or more, or whether they were oral 
or written down, cannot as yet be definitely asserted. 
They were probably composed between A. D. 60 and 70 
Of the writings bearing the name of the apostle John, the 
book of The Revelation was, as some expositors maintain, 
the first to appear (about A. D. 67) ; the Gospel and the 
Catholic epistles were composed about the close of the 
apostle's life or between A. D. 95 and 100. Many Biblical 
scholars assign a later date to the book of The Revela- 
tion, and give weighty reasons for the belief that it also 
was written between A. D. 95 and 100. 

As long as the Church was under the direct super- 
vision of the apostles errors and heresies were not very 

common. Still there were tendencies which 
Heresies. readily developed into dangerous departures 

from the faith. The causes of these were the 
insistence of some who had come over from Judaism, on 
more of the Jewish elements than were consistent with 
the development of Christianity. This tendency led into 
Ebionism. On the other hand, heathen philosophy and 
morals were mingled with Christian belief and practice by 
some, and the result was the rise of incipent Gnosticism 
and corrupt or immoral sects, like the Nicolaitans. 
Finally certain persons claiming to be Christ appeared 
leading away many. Of these Dositheus in Samaria and 
Menander who claimed divinity and promised to impart 
physical immortality are especially named. 



CHAPTER III. 

THE SUB-APOSTOLIC AGE (A. D. IOO-170). 

At the end of the apostolic age Christianity appears on 

a surprisingly large area of territory. In addition to the 

regions in which it had taken root firmly during 

Spread of ^he preceding era, it is found also in other and 

Christianity. r fc> ' . . . 

remoter places. Palestine in spite of the fall 
of Jerusalem still continues to be a center and source of 
Christian influence ; but the Christianity which now em- 
anates from this region is no longer characterized by 
those peculiarities which made the name Judaistic Christi- 
anity appropriate to it. Antioch also served as a center 
of missionary effort, as during the days of Paul and Barna- 
bas. Edessa, the chief town of Osrhcene must have begun 
at this time to assume some importance as a Christian 
center. A number of traditions and legends are associ- 
ated with the origin of Edessene Christianity and a local 
type of church-life and literature emanates from it fitly 
called Syrian. In Asia Minor, besides Ephesus, Smyrna 
appears as a large center of Christian influence. In Greece 
the place of priority belongs still to Corinth. In Western 
Europe, passing by Rome, as already well known as a 
flourishing Christian center, we find Gaul occupied in two 
at least of its important cities, Lyons and Vienne. In 
Africa, Alexandria naturally served as a basis of opera- 
tions. From here no doubt went forth those who planted 
the Coptic church as well as the Greek-speaking churches 
of the Nile Delta. Traditions which cannot be readily 
verified make this the period of the founding of churches 
in the British Islands also. 

This wide-spread diffusion of the Christian Church led 

3 1 



32 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



to its being noticed with greater care by the surrounding 

world. The first and most noticeable result 
SShed^o d m" of this scrutiny was that the distinction 
Judaism. between Judaism and Christianity was clearly 

seen. 

The Jews themselves did not submit to the result of the 
war which terminated with the capture of Jerusalem in 

A. D. 70. They broke out in rebellion at inter- 
The Jews after V als. The most serious of their rebellions was 
Jerusalem. that under Bar Cochba, an impostor claiming 

to be the " Son of the Star" prophesied in 
Num. xxiv. 17. With his fall in A. D. 135, Jerusalem was 
reduced to a pagan city and renamed as ^Elia Capitolina. 
Jews were forbidden to enter it and the observance of the 
Jewish law was prohibited. This prohibition was not re- 
moved until after the death of Hadrian (A. D. 138). 

With the extinction of the political independence of 
Judaism came its subjection to schools of rabbinical 

learning. The instinct of national preserva- 
Rabbinicai tion turned to the teachers of the law and 

made the people without formal action submit 
to them as the leaders of the nation. The school of 
rabbis at Jabneh (Jamnia between Ashdod and Joppa) 
became the first center of rabbinical learning and power. 
The president of the school (Nasi) was recognized as the 
spiritual head of the nation. Later the school at Tiberias 
assumed this importance. In these schools was begun 
that consolidation and reduction to writing of the tradi- 
tions which appear to-day as the Talmud. 

By the Jews the Christians were regarded as apostates 
and heretics, and a peculiar prayer, or rather imprecation, 

was formulated and used against them. The 
t?e ri Worid y and pagans looked upon the Church partly through 

the medium of misunderstanding and calumny, 
and partly through the medium of its status before the 
civil law, with respect to which its position was in many 
points antagonistic. Popular misunderstanding may be 
assigned as the cause of the accusation of atheism brought, 
at this time, against Christians. To the eyes of those 
accustomed to worship visible objects it was no doubt a 



THE SUB-APOSTOLIC AGE. 33 

clear evidence of disbelief in any God for one to abandon 
the worship of the temples and substitute no other visible 
object of worship in their place. But charges of incest and 
Thyestian banquets were also made against the Christians, 
being no doubt slanderous distortions of the observance 
of the Lord's Supper and the " holy kiss." And the 
charge of worshiping a monster with an ass's head can 
only be the jest of some wag turned into a sober charge 
in the absence of general information. All these charges 
were also readily believed because of the desire to find 
something objectionable in a community so much hated. 

The status of the Church before the Roman law was 
affected by several standing laws of the State. (1) The 

statute against the worship of foreign gods 
La^affecting not adopted by the State always remained a 

recognized principle in the Roman law, al- 
though the religions and gods of conquered nations were 
constructively recognized as " adopted by the State." 
This allowed Christianity as a legitimate religion so long 
as it was supposed to be a sect of Judaism. But when 
its distinctness from Judaism was perceived, and when 
Judaism itself was put under the ban because of the in- 
subordination of the people during Hadrian's reign, 
Christianity came into conflict with this law. (2) The 
law against the formation of societies stood in the way 
of the organization of churches. There were indeed ex- 
ceptions to this law, but they were based upon conditions 
with which the Christians could not comply. They must 
evidently appear to violate it. (3) The law against magic, 
though not violated by the Christians might appear to be ; 
their miracles of healing and expulsion of demons were 
construed as acts of magic. For the violation of these 
laws the Christians incurred liability to two charges : 
(1) Sacrilege, and (2) u Lcesa majestas" or defiance of the 
authority of the government. 

Under such circumstances it was natural for the Roman 
government to take a definite legal stand in the matter. It 

was during the reign of Trajan (A. D. 98-117) 
u) h Tra]an etter tnat we ^ n ^ sucn a definite policy suggested 

and outlined in a letter of Pliny the Younger, 

3 



34 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



procurator of Bithynia. Pliny, perplexed as to what he 
should do with the numerous Christians in the province 
over which he was appointed to preside, refers the ques- 
tion to the emperor himself. He asks whether all Chris- 
tians should be treated alike or some distinction made 
between the weaker and the stronger ; whether they 
should be punished for the mere fact of being Christians. 
He then states his practice up to the time of writing. 
He had been in the habit of asking of them whether they 
were Christians. If they confessed that they were, he 
commanded them to recant. If they refused as many 
as three times, he punished them for obstinacy. The 
emperor in his answer (rescript) approves this course, 
and adds that Christians need not be sought out, but 
only dealt with when brought before the government 
by responsible accusers. Anonymous charges should 
be disregarded. As this course should apply in Bithynia 
only. But the principle involved could hardly fail 
to spread throughout the empire. As a matter of fact a 
persecution arose at this time in which some eminent 
Christians suffered martydrom. Of this number were 
Simeon, an aged bishop of Jerusalem, reputed to be a 
"relative of the Lord " and of the line of David, crucified 
in A. D. 98 and Ignatius who was cast to the lions in 
Rome in A. D. 115. 

The policy of Hadrian (A. D. 1 17-138) towards the 
Christians was not essentially different from that of 
Trajan. He continued the persecutions 
Hadrian. against them. But to avoid the tumults which 

accompanied the execution of the laws against 
them he ordered that they should in all cases be tried 
in due form. 

The son and successor of Hadrian, Antoninus Pius (A. 
D. 138-161) is not known to have instituted any change in 
the attitude of the government towards Chris- 
M n ar°cus n A S urd?u s ti ans - Authentic accounts of persecutions 
are, however, lacking during his reign. His 
successor, Marcus Aurelius (A. D. 161-180) was a Stoic 
philosopher and a man of upright conduct. But he despised 
excitement, especially religious enthusiasm, and had no 



THE SUB-APOSTOLIC AGE. 3S 

sympathy with the belief in immortality held so tena- 
ciously by the Christians. Accordingly he allowed per- 
secutions against them to revive and increase in rigor. A 
fresh wave of hostility swept over the Church during his 
reign, which counted among its victims the Christian 
apologist, Justin Martyr, put to death probably at Rome in 
A.D.166, and Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna, who suffered 
martyrdom in Smyrna, besides a large number of Chris- 
tians, members of the churches of Lyons and Vienne in 
Gaul. It was here that some remarkable martyrdoms 
were endured especially by the slave Blandina and by 
Ponticus and Pothinus, the aged bishop. It is not 
quite certain whether Marcus Aurelius went further than 
his predecessors in persecuting by ordering that Chris- 
tians should be sought out and punished. Towards the 
latter part of his reign, while on an expedition against the 
Marcomanni, the emperor is said to have relaxed his 
enmity towards the Church, being led thereto by a re- 
markable answ r er to the prayers of Christian soldiers. 
His army was in great suffering and some danger on ac- 
count of the lack of water when the " Thundering Legion," 
consisting for the most part of Christians, prayed for rain 
and rain fell forthwith accompanied by a thunder-storm. 
At any rate the severity of persecution was after this date 
softened. 

The literary activity of Christians during this age was 
shaped first by the ordinary need of instruction in the 
Apostolic new or der of things, and second by the need 

Fathers. of explanation and defence before the pagan 

empire and the world in general. The first of 
these needs gave birth to the class of writers called apos- 
tolic fathers ; the second to the apologists. Of the apostolic 
fathers the earliest is Clement of Rome, reputed to have 
suffered martyrdom under Domitian. Two epistles are 
ascribed to him, of which only the first is genuine, written 
either in A. D. 95 or 96. It is addressed to the church at 
Corinth and urges harmony and patient submission to 
authority. It also alludes to the subject of the resurrec- 
tion of the body, concerning which the apostle Paul him- 
self had written to the same church. The so-called 



36 CHURCH HISTORY. 

Second Epistle of Clement was probably composed as a 
homily about A. D. 135-145. It contains exhortations to 
repentance and good works, and holds up future rewards 
and punishments as incentives to a moral life. 

The Epistle of Barnabas placed by some, but without 
sufficient grounds, even earlier than Clement, was perhaps 
written by another Barnabas than the one 
Bamabas. mentioned in the Acts as the fellow-mission- 
ary of Paul. It is intended to show that the 
meaning and importance of the Old Testament depend 
on their reference to the redemption by Christ. It is 
probably a product of the last years of the first century. 

Ignatius of Antioch was the author of several epistles 
to churches mainly in Asia Minor (A. D. 115). The number 
of these and the exact form have been made 
Ignatius. the subjects of discussion and difference of 

opinion. They exist in a longer recension of 
seven and in a shorter one of three. The latter is now 
regarded as the authentic form. Ignatius is of importance 
as a witness to the form of Christianity at this time, be- 
cause he was the disciple of the apostle John, and even 
said by tradition to be the child set by Jesus in the midst 
of his disciples (Matt, xviii. 2). He wrote his epistles 
while on the way to Rome to suffer for the faith, and they 
are therefore full of exhortations to obey the officers of 
the Church. 

Hermas, brother of Pius bishop of Rome (A.D.142-157), 
wrote an unique treatise in the form of visions, dreams 
and similitudes intended to stimulate a consist- 
Hermas. ent Christian life and, therefore, abounding 

in exhortations, warnings against the love of 
pleasure, against an earthly mind, and against apostacy 
in persecutions. The doctrinal element is lacking in this 
work. 

Closely connected with the epistles of Ignatius is that of 
Polycarp of Smyrna (about A.D. 1 5 o) to the Philippians, prin- 
cipally consisting "of exhortations to sobriety 
Polycarp. of life and doctrine in the midst of the trials 

which encompassed them." Contemporary with 
Polycarp was Papias of Hierapolis, whose writings would 



THE SUB-APOSTOLIC AGE. 37 

be interesting and valuable were they extant. He made 
it his business to go about and collect from the lips of 
those who had conversed with the apostles all that they 
had to report regarding the Lord and his sayings. Thus 
he put together five books principally consisting of anec- 
dotes. Of these only extracts are preserved at second 
hand in later writers. 

In the same group of writings as the apostolic fathers 
must be put the recently discovered Teaching of the Twelve 

(about A. D. ioo), a sort of manual summing 
^e E Tv^fve f U P * n * ts ^ rst P art Christian doctrine under 

"The two Ways" and giving some instruc- 
tions regarding the conduct of worship and the adminis- 
tration of the affairs of the Church. 

The apologists began to write as soon as Christianity 
became the object of popular and imperial persecution. 

They addressed their defences of their faith to 
The Apologists, the emperor and to the people. The first of 

these writings is an anonymous letter ad- 
dressed to Diognetus in which Christianity is set over 
against heathenism and Judaism, and shown to be supe- 
rior. The first apologists whose names are known are 
Quadratus and Aristides (A. D. 125). They endeavored to 
defend Christianity before Hadrian by addressing their 
treatises to him. Later came Claudius Apollinaris and 
Miltiades, who attempted the same thing with Marcus 
Aurelius. But the ablest and most important of this class 
of writers is Justin Martyr (166). Justin was originally a 

Platonic philosopher ; but finding no satisfac- 
justin. tion for his religious nature in philosophic 

systems, he was attracted by Christianity, and 
being converted, devoted his life to the dissemination of 
its teachings, which he did as a traveling sophist (teacher 
of philosophy). Coming to Rome he addressed two 
Apologies to the emperor. These are known as the Longer 
and the Shorter. Besides these he also composed a 
Dialogue with Trypho the Jew, being a defence of Chris- 
tianity as against Judaism. 

A pupil of Justin's, Tatian the Assyrian, undertook the 
task of undeceiving the people of their misapprehension 



38 CHURCH HISTORY. 

of Christianity. He was educated in Greek learning and 
wrote a Discourse to the Greeks (the heathen), 
Tatian. in which he compares the Christian faith 

with paganism and vindicates it by the com- 
parison. He also drew up the Diatessaron. This was 
a unification of the accounts of the four Gospels in 
one narrative. Tatian, however, joined the sect of 
ascetics who rejected marriage and the use of flesh and 
wine. Another important apologist was Athenagoras, 
who addressed to Marcus Aurelius a Supplication in 
behalf of the Christians and wrote besides a treatise in 
defence of the Christian doctrine of the resurrection. 
Finally Melito of Sardis also wrote an Apology setting forth 
the Christian faith as the true philosophy ; but this work is 
not extant. 

The two tendencies away from the pure gospel as 
preached by Christ and the apostles, as already indicated, 
were towards Judaism on one side, and on the 
Heresies. other, towards the admixture in the Christian 

system of pagan elements. In the sub-apos- 
tolic age the first of these developed into the sects of the 
Nazarenes, the Ebionites and the Elkesaites. 

The Nazarenes were a small body dwelling in Pella and 
neighborhood. They held to the Mosaic law and did 
not refuse to fellowship with Gentile Chris- 
Eb?onftes S, etc ti ans - The Ebionites were much more numer- 
ous and widespread. Their name is derived 
either from the founder of the sect, of whom, however, 
nothing further is known ; or more probably from the 
word " ebion " meaning poor, humble, oppressed. They 
traced their pedigree (if the latter derivation of the name 
be correct) to the original disciples, who gave up all into 
the common treasury of the Church and made themselves 
poor. They were zealous for the law, refused to fellow- 
ship with Gentile Christians, and denied the divinity of 
Jesus Christ. The Elkesaites derived their name from 
a book supposed to have fallen from heaven. In addition 
to the Judaic features of Ebionism their creed was charac- 
terized by ascetic elements, which they probably borrowed 
from the Essenes. 



THE SUB-APOSTOLIC AGE. 39 

The Ebionites, especially those who affiliated with the 
Essenes, were very eager to disseminate their views as 
widely as possible. To this end they resorted 
Literature 6 t0 ^ terarv labors whose results are partly pre- 
served in the so-called Clementine literature, 
consisting of certain Homilies and Recognitions falsely 
ascribed to Clement of Rome. These writings emanate 
from the latter part of the second century, and are in- 
tended to exalt the views of the Judaistic Christians by 
putting them into the mouth of the apostle Peter, and to 
cast suspicion on the apostle Paul by representing him 
under the repugnant figure of Simon Magus. 

The anti-Judaistic tendency in Christianity developed 
into the large and complicated system of heresies known 
as Gnosticism. The name is derived from 
gen°eraT sm m gnosis {yvwfft^}, knowledge, and indicates in 
general the basis of the whole system of 
Gnosticism. It was the effort after and the pretence of 
a deeper inner knowledge of the mystery of existence, not 
possessed by the common people. This alleged knowl- 
edge was nothing but the expansion of heathen ideas of 
the world. It is not always possible to trace these ideas 
to their respective sources. There were elements in them 
contributed by Zoroastrianism, by Alexandrian Platonism, 
and by the Hebrew Qabbala. But they are so trans- 
formed that they can scarcely be recognized. Gnosticism 
is therefore best considered as a system of Christian- 
pagan thought. As such its fundamental and common 
features are : (i) The dualistic opposition of the 
principles of good and evil. Evil is coeternal with 
good. The latter is spirit, the former is matter. (2) 
Emanations. Sometimes these are conceived as pro- 
ceeding from the two primitive and original centers 
(good and evil), and sometimes from the good as the more 
active of the two. These emanations are called ^Eons 
individually. When they are looked at as a whole they 
constitute the Pleroma. (3) The Demiurgus. This is the 
lowest of the aeons emanating from the good and stand- 
ing on the boundary line between the worlds of spirit and 
of matter. He fashions out of the elements nearest him 



4o 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



the actual universe. (4) Sin, though not distinctly de- 
fined or held, is implied as inhering in the present sys- 
tem of created things, from the very nature of its origin, 
viz., the mixture of elements from the worlds of spirit and 
matter. The Fall is simply the incorporation of material 
substance in the universe. (5) Redemption is the libera- 
tion of the spiritual elements from the association of the 
material. It is effected by Christ, who is the highest and 
most perfect aeon. As matter is inherently evil, Christ 
could not have had a real material body. That which he 
appeared to have was not a real, but a phantom body. 
This feature of Gnosticism is called Docetism. (6) The 
ethics of Gnosticism was naturally ascetic. It consisted 
in denying the body lawful desires on the ground of the 
evil of matter. 

These general features appeared in different combina- 
tions and with a variety of details in a large number of 
subordinate systems. These may be grouped 
Special Gnostic conveniently according to their geographical 
distribution. In fact they present distinctive 
characteristics in different regions. (1) The 
Samaritan form of Gnosticism goes back into the apostolic 
age : but does not appear fully developed into a separate 
type. Its representatives Simon Magus, Dositheus and 
Menander have been named as teachers of error in that 
age. (2) The Syrian forms are characterized by the 
effort to associate the Gnostic system with some Biblical 
character or event. The Ophites reverenced the serpent 
as the benefactor of mankind and the leader into true 
knowledge. But they complicated their system by at- 
taching to it an elaborate cosmogony. The Cainites, 
Sethites and Peratae connected their teachings with the 
Old Testament. Saturninus mingled astrological ele- 
ments with his Gnosticism. Corpocrates taught " com- 
munistic antinomianism." (3) The Hellenic forms of 
Gnosticism were fully developed in Basilides and Valen- 
tinus. The former of these accounts for the origin of the 
world by a principle of evolution from a world-seed and 
the latter introduces into the evolution the idea of sex, 
attributing sexual character to a series of aeons. (4) The 



THE SUB-APOSTOLIC AGE. 



41 



last form of Gnosticism to be mentioned here we may call 
the Roman because its originator Marcion, although a 
native of Sinope in Asia, came to Rome and labored 
there. Marcion's system is perhaps the least speculative 
of the Gnostic theories. Its central principle is that there 
is an antagonism between the Old Testament, and Chris- 
tianity. The God of the Old Testament of creation and 
the law is the evil principle. He is cruel, jealous and 
destructive. Above this God of the Jews there is a good 
God who is revealed in his Son Christ. Christ assumed 
an apparent body and only in appearance suffered the 
things recorded in the gospel. To avoid the recogni- 
tion of the authority of the Old Testament, Marcion con- 
structed a canon for himself consisting of those New 
Testament writings only which laid the least possible em- 
phasis on Old Testament teaching, viz., the epistles of 
Paul with the exception of those to Timothy and Titus, 
and the Gospel of Luke modified by the excision of those 
passages which might be interpreted as accepting the Old 
Testament. 

Distinctly opposed to Marcion and yet inclining towards 
Gnosticism was Bardesanes, who flourished at Edessa 

about the end of the second and the begin- 
Bardesanes. nm g f the third centuries. The Gnosticism 

of Bardesanes is, however, of such a vague 
nondescript character that it is not to be classified with 
any other ; nor did it prevent his exerting a strong influ- 
ence over the Church. His hymns certainly found great 
favor in the early Church, and his missionary preaching 
in Armenia is recognized as distinctly Christian. 

When Christian churches became numerous through- 
out the empire the question of the outward relations of 

these churches began to receive some atten- 
Cathoiic tj on< Each church as far as its own internal 

Church. . . . 

organization was concerned remained in the 
same condition as during the preceding period. The in- 
ner unity of different churches within the same general 
region (whether it were city, or city and adjoining sub- 
urban districts) was recognized in the commitment of the 
government of the whole region to the presbytery. One 



42 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



member of the presbytery was singled out and given the 
oversight or presidency of the whole district and probably 
the name bishop was applied to such a one in a pre-emi- 
nent sense. Naturally such a bishop was in each case 
the chief presbyter or pastor of the most important church 
in the region, and when this was a city he received the 
name of metropolitan (bishop). This system necessitated 
the holding of meetings of presbytery at stated times and 
led to the holding also of synods or councils after the 
pattern of the council at Jerusalem (A. D. 50). But no ac- 
counts of any synod during the sub-apostolic age are ex- 
tant. But with the affiliation of churches with one another 
and the growth of the sense of inner unity arose at the 
end of this age the idea of one outward universal or Cath- 
olic Church. This idea was no doubt promoted by the 
fact that the Gnostics and Judaizers were seen to have 
departed from a norm existing in the consciousness of the 
mass of Christians, and were treated as heretics. Thus 
Catholicism became sharply distinguished from heresy. 

From the representations of Justin Martyr (ApoL A. D. 
85-86), Pliny (Epist. ii. to Trajan) and the Didache ^Teach- 
ing of the Twelve) we gather that the worship 
Worship. of this period was not different in an essential 

respect from that of the apostolic age. Chris- 
tians met on the first day of the week " sang a hymn to 
Christ as to a god " (Pliny) and offered prayers ; the pre- 
siding presbyter exhorted the congregation, perhaps read- 
ing a written homily after the pattern of II. Clement ; 
they celebrated the eucharist in connection with the 
social meal known as the " agape " and the wealthy 
among them contributed money, which was applied to 
the needs of widows and orphans. Baptism was admin- 
istered to those who were to be admitted to the church, 
in the same manner as before. 

At what time precisely the extraordinary spiritual gifts 
of miracle working and prophecy exercised by the aposto- 
lic Church ceased it is not possible to deter- 
Montanism. mine. It is certain, however, that soon after 
the middle of the second century there arose 
a party which made the possession of such gifts of the 



THE SUB-APOSTOLIC AGE. 



43 



Spirit the test of the true Church of Christ, and their ab- 
sence as a deplorable sign of falling away on the part of 
the Catholic Church. The leader of this party was a certain 
Montanus of Pepuza in Phrygia. He flourished in about 
A. D. 170 and taught that the promise of the Paraclete 
was to be taken as meaning that the gift of prophecy was 
to be perpetual in the Church. He claimed accordingly 
that he was himself an authoritative prophet and preached 
a purer morality than was being practiced by Christians 
in general. He gained many adherents, among them two 
women — Maximilla and Priscilla — who also claimed pro- 
phetic authority. A sect was thus formed character- 
ized by great religious fervor and ascetic morality. The 
most eminent of the Montanists was the Latin Father 
Tertullian who defended and enforced their peculiar 
tenets. 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE ANTE-NICENE CHURCH. 

(A. D. 170-325.) 

This is the period of the Church's struggle with the 
combined forces of the pagan state, pagan philosophy 

and culture and the inherent opposition of the 
Growth. sinful human heart to the call unto repentance 

and a holy life. Nevertheless at the very 
opening of it great progress is noticeable in the 
spread of the gospel in every direction. Christian 
churches were planted in Armenia before the end of 
the second century. At the same time approximately, 
the gospel was carried into Arabia by Pantaenus of 
Alexandria ; somewhat later Bostra appears as the seat 
of a bishop. In Persia Christianity exists not simply 
in traces or individual churches, but broadly spread in 
numbers of communities as early as the time when the Sas- 
sanid dynasty supplanted the Parthian (A. D. 227). In 
Africa a new center is formed (besides that in Alexandria) 
at Carthage. Here for the first time the Latin language 
appears to be used in the Christian Church. Here too 
Agrippinus, bishop of Carthage, holds one of the earliest 
known provincial synods consisting of the bishops of 
Churches in Numidia(A. D. 200-220). Crossing over to 
Europe, we find Spain overspread with Christian churches 
and at a council at Elvira, towards the end of the period 
mustering together nineteen bishops (A. D. 306). In Gaul 
to the older churches of Lyons and Vienne, there are added 
a large number ot others, especially those at Paris, Rheims, 
Rouen, Bordeaux, Orange and Toulouse ; and in fact, the 
Christian Church in Gaul ; like that in Spain, assumes large 
44 



THE ANTE-NICENE CHURCH. 4S 

enough proportions during the latter part of the age to 
hold one of the most memorable provincial councils, that 
at Aries (A. D. 314). In Britain, though the extent of the 
progress of Christianity is not known, its having found a 
foothold cannot be doubted. The British Church sent 
its representatives to the council at Aries and later to that 
of Nicaea. The German cities of Metz, Treves and 
Cologne had Christian Churches very early. As early as 
A. D. 302 Afra is said to have suffered martyrdom at 
Augsburg, showing that there were at that date Christians in 
that town. The missionaries of the gospel seem to have 
generally followed the courses of the rivers, especially the 
Rhine and Danube and planted the banner of the cross 
in the provinces adjoining these rivers. Thus at the end 
of the period we find that Christianity had penetrated to 
the remotest parts of the empire and in some cases had 
passed beyond its boundaries. 

The importance and dignity which Christianity assumed 
on account of its diffusion and the appearance within it 
of able men who undertook to defend it, led the repre- 
sentatives of pagan philosophy and culture to 
p" a an pw attack it with vigor. Fronto, an orator of the 
losophers. days of Marcus Aurelius, is said to have com- 
posed an oration in defense on legal grounds 
of that emperor's persecution of Christians. Celsus (A. D. 
170), a man of wide learning, according to the standards of 
the day, and acquainted with the teachings of Christianity 
as well as Judaism, wrote The Trice Word as a refutation 
of the Christian system. In it he sums up all the objec- 
tions, historical and philosophical, that can be brought 
up against the faith of the Church. Later philosophical 
attacks have done no more than restate the objections of 
Celsus. He holds the Gospel history incredible, assails 
the doctrines of the Atonement, of the Incarnation, and of 
a special revelation, and exalts philosophy and a ration- 
alized philosophical heathenism over against what he 
believes to be the superstition of the Christians. Lucian 
(A. D. 180) approached Christianity from the point of 
view of the universal skeptic. As he had ridiculed the 
pagan mythology, he attempted to ridicule Christian 



4 6 CHURCH HISTORY. 

belief also. In his History of Peregrinus Proteus he repre- 
sents the Christians as the easy dupes of a not very skillful 
schemer. He was evidently familiar with some of the 
distinctive features of Christian life and thought, such 
as the belief in immortality, courage in meeting death for 
the faith, and brotherly love. 

As distinguished from these negative and destructive 
attacks paganism produced first a positive rival to the 
person of the Founder of Christianity, and 
Apoiioniusof second a system of philosophical religion or 
religious philosophy. The first of these was 
the work of Philostratus entitled Life of Apollonius of 
Tyana. Apollonius was reputed to be a miracle-worker 
and teacher who lived at the end of the first century. 
Philostratus wrote his life during the first quarter 
of the third century as a specimen of ideal manhood 
and supernatural power produced by Pythagoreanism. 
Hence Christianity is not only unnecessary, but is excelled 
in practical religious force. 

The religious philosophy set up as a rival to Christianity 
was Neo-Platonism. This system was founded in Alex- 
andria by Ammonius Saccas (A. D. 241) and 
Neo piatonism. elaborated by Plotinus (A. D. 270), but taken 
up and offered, as a substitute for Christianity 
by Porphyry (A. D. 233-304). It assumed the existence 
of a divine substance pervading all things and animating 
all objects worshiped in the various national religions. 
Christianity as not fraternizing, but rather denying the 
reality of other religions is not a participant in this divine 
afflatus. Besides setting up Neo-Platonism as a rival 
to it Porphyry also attacked Christianity posi- 
Porphyry. tively. He alleged that the Old and New Tes- 
taments were mutually contradictory. He ap- 
plied principles of criticism to the Book of Daniel and 
denied that that book contains true predictions, but 
ascribed its origin to the time of Antiochus Epiphanes. 
He pointed to the dispute between Paul and Peter, and 
alleged that the followers of Jesus had distorted his teach- 
ings and deified him, though he was himself a noble and 
good man, and had performed miracles by the aid of the 



THE ANTE-NICENE CHURCH. 47 

gods. Porphyry also sets up Pythagoras as the ideal 
of the man filled with divinity. Finally with far less 
strength and originality, Hierocles directed an attack on 
Christianity in a* work entitled Truth-Loving Discourse* 

The political attack on the Church during this age is the 
continuation and outcome of the persecuting policy of the 

preceding. The persecution which raged while 
Persecutions. Marcus Aurelius reigned subsided under his 
Seve?us! er son an d successor Commodus (A. D. 180-192). 

This ruler, although personally one of the least 
attractive of the Roman emperors was influenced in favor 
of Christianity by his mistress. The policy of leniency 
continued during the reigns of Septimius Severus (A. D. 
193-2 11), Caracalla (A. D. 21 1-2 18), Heliogabalus (A. D. 
219-222) and Alexander Severus (A. D. 222-225). A sort 
of Oriental or African dynasty was constituted by these em- 
perors, none of whom was a strenuous champion of the Ital- 
ian state religious ideas. Septimius, however, restricted 
Christianity by forbidding its extension. And in the pro- 
vinces the laws and edicts against the Christians con- 
tinued to be enforced. Thus in Alexandria Leonidas and 
Potamiaena, the father and mother of Origen perished 
for their faith, and in Carthage, Perpetua and Felicitas 
were wrapped in a net and thrown to a mad cow. 
Alexander Severus befriended Christianity in a more 
positive manner. Being of a religious caste of mind 
and seeking for the satisfaction of his religious nature, 
he constructed a pantheon of his own, in which he gave 
places among others to Orpheus, Abraham, Apollonius of 
Tyana, and Christ. He even seriously thought of adopting 
Christ among the gods of Rome and building him a tem- 
ple. Meanwhile the laws against the Christians were not 
repealed, as the emperor evidently depended on his own 
good will and disposition to protect the Christians. His 
successor, however, Maximin the Thracian (A. D. 235-238) 

who also put him to death, out of hatred to 
Maximin. him, from the very beginning declared against 

the policy of his predecessor. Assuming that 

* Auyos <PtXaX7J07]S or Adyot <PtXaArjd£i$ 7:pd$ %pt<TTLa\>ou$, 



4 8 CHURCH HISTORY. 

the most aggressive promoters of the gospel were the offi- 
cers of the churches, he directed his edict against them. His 
reign, however, was brief ; he was succeeded by Gordian 
(A. D. 238-244). Under this emperor and the one who fol- 
lowed him, Philip the Arabian (A. D. 244-249), the Chris- 
tians were allowed to go unmolested. Philip is even said to 
have secretly embraced Christianity. However this may 
have been, Christianity was by no means as yet beyond the 
danger of further persecution. On the contrary Decius, 

who followed Philip on the imperial throne (A. 
Dedus. D. 249-35 1 ), instituted the severest persecution 

endured by the Church up to his time. This 
persecution was characterized first of all by its universality. 
It was no longer any locality or class of Christians that were 
attacked, but the whole Church. Decius came to the con- 
clusion that Christianity was radically opposed to the gen- 
ius of Roman institutions and that the only way to save 
the Roman empire was to suppress Christianity. He is- 
sued his edict in A. D. 250. According to its terms, which 
the prefects were required to execute, the Christians were 
to be summoned back to the state religion. Those that re- 
fused were to be threatened, and if they persisted, to be act- 
ually visited with confiscation of goods, torture and death. 
Many of the Christians, accustomed to the immunity 
enjoyed under the immediately preceding emperors, yielded 
under the application of the first penalties. These were 
called lapsi (fallen) ; if they signified their return to 
heathenism by sacrificing to the pagan gods they were 
specially designated sacrificati ; if by strewing incense they 
were called thurificati ; if by signing a certificate of their 
having done so, they were named libellatici and actafaci- 
entes. On the other hand those who persisted in their 
adherence to the faith were called confessores, if they en- 
dured torture but survived, and martyres if they suffered 
unto death. Thus under Decius, Gallus (A. D. 251-253) 
and Valerian (A. D. 253-259) the Church was subjected to 
the purifying influence of tribulation. Many eminent men, 
including in the number bishops Fabian and Cornelius of 
Rome, Babylas of Antioch and Alexander of Jerusalem 
suffered martyrdom, while others like Origen, Dionysius 



THE ANTE-NICENE CHURCH. 49 

of Alexandria, and Cyprian, were subjected to other 
sufferings. 

The persecution was arrested abruptly and formally by 
the son of Valerian, Gallienus (A. D. 260-268). This em- 
peror issued an edict of toleration without, 
Gallienus. however, recognizing Christianity as a legiti- 
mate religion, as is often alleged. This toler- 
ation was continued by Claudius II. (A. D. 268-270) and 
Aurelian (A. D. 270-275), and through the nine years of 
practical interregnum (A. D. 275-284) preceding the 
accession of Diocletian. 

Diocletian (A. D. 284-305) was a clear-sighted statesman, 
dominated by the supreme desire to bring the empire out 
of the confusion into which it had been 
Diocletian. plunged by his immediate predecessors. He 
organized the government in a systematic way 
by associating with himself Maximian as co-reigning 
Augustus and appointing two subordinate rulers entitled 
Caesar. For eighteen years the natural benevolence and 
statesmanship of the emperor prevailed over many urgent 
demands for the suppression of Christianity. In A. D. 
303 he seems to have been persuaded that his ambitions 
and plans for the empire as organized by himself were im- 
periled by the toleration of the Christians. Accordingly 
he issued an edict ordering the destruction of Christian 
church buildings, followed by another imprisoning all 
bishops and presbyters, and by a third subjecting them to 
torture. These edicts were the signal for the outburst of 
popular fury on the part of the pagans. The atrocities 
that were perpetrated were numerous. A fourth edict in 
A. D. 304 brought matters to a crisis by offering Chris- 
tians the simple alternative of apostasy or death. The 
persecution assumed the proportions of a systematic and 
determined effort to exterminate Christianity. A few 
Christians broke down under the bloody violence which 
ensued and were designated traditores from giving up their 
sacred books ; but the majority endured intense suffer- 
ings and vast numbers met horrible death. In A. D. 305 
Diocletian abdicated with Maximian, his associate. They 
were succeeded by Severus and Maximin Daza. The per- 
4 



S o CHURCH HISTORY. 

secution was continued, but its futility became apparent 
and in A. D. 311 an edict of toleration was issued, re- 
newed in A. D. 313 at Milan by Constantine and Licinius, 
who meanwhile after civil dissension and wars had come 
to the throne jointly- 



CHAPTER V. 

ANTE-NICENE CHRISTIAN THOUGHT. 

The different branches of the Christian Church located 
in different geographical parts naturally developed dif- 
ferent types of literary productions. There 
Christian are to be distinguished of these in the Ante- 

Wnters. __. ° 

Nicene age : 

I. The Asiatic-Western. The churches in Gaul were 
offshoots from the churches of Asia Minor. The greatest 
of the writers belonging to this region, Irenaeus 
iren^us. ^ jy 2Q2 ^ was a na ti V e of Asia Minor and 

was fond of telling how through his teacher Polycarp he 
had been brought into contact with the apostolic traditions. 
He was interested in Gnosticism, seeing in it a grievous 
departure from the simplicity of the faith delivered by the 
apostles, and wrote a treatise directed against it under the 
title Refutation and Overthrow of Knowledge (gnosis) 
falsely so called. ' ^ 

Irenaeus no doubt stimulated his pupil Hippolytus 

(fl. A. D. 200-235) to continue in a literary way the battle 

against Gnosticism. Hippolytus, however, 

Hippolytus. liyed j n Rome< He wrote several works ; the 

most important is that entitled Against all Heresies \ 
dealing not only with the errors of Gnosticism, but with 
other forms of departure from the gospel as well. It is 
to be noted that he charges these heresies with seeking 
their support not in Scripture, but in astrology and 
pagan philosophy. He also compiled a chronology. 

Another writer of this type, also a resident of Rome, was 
Gaius, who opposed Montanism. Further Hegesippus, 
(A. D. 180) the author of Memoirs also lived in 
g e a s \p S pu " d He ~ Rome. His work was perhaps a valuable col- 
lection of historical data regarding the early 

5 1 



52 CHURCH HISTORY. 

career of the Church, but was unfortunately lost in the 
troublous times of the persecution of the Church. 

Of purely Asiatic origin and residence was Julius 
Africanus (fl. A. D. 232) the author of a Chronographia or 
chronological arrangement of sacred history. 
ca^JTs 5 Afri " In a letter t0 Origen on the authorship of the 
History of Susanna he shows some apti- 
tude for critical work. Criticism and interpretation, how- 
ever, were first cultivated at Antioch, and Dorotheus (A. D. 
290) and Lucian (A. D. 311) are the earliest who gave 
themselves to this branch of labor. 

II. The Latin-African. The first Christian to use the 
Latin language in his writings was Tertullian (A. D. 160- 
220). He was born at Carthage, his father being 
Tertullian. a Roman centurion. He was a man evidently 
of enthusiastic and rugged temperament, who 
had lived somewhat irregularly in early youth, had quali- 
fied himself for a teacher of rhetoric and was converted to 
Christianity about the age of forty. He threw himself 
into the life and thought of Christianity with characteris- 
tic vehemence and became an uncompromising enemy of 
worldly wisdom. In his later life he joined the Monta- 
nists and manifested in the exposition and defence of his 
new position the same vigor that characterized him as a 
member of the catholic body. He wrote a large number 
of works which may be classified in general into (a) Apolo- 
getical treatises directed against the opponents of Christi- 
anity, both Jews and Pagans. Of these the Adversos Gentes 
and the Adversos Judceos are the most important, (b) Con- 
troversial treatises directed against heretics. These in- 
cluded such works as De Baptismo, Adv. Valentinanos, Adv. 
Marcioneni and Adv. Praxeam. (c) Practical treatises, 
being exhortations to asceticism. Of these the De Poeni- 
tentia, De Baptistno, Ad Martyr es, De Spectacnlis, De Cultu 
Feminarum, are the most noteworthy among many others. 
After his conversion to Montanism, Tertullian became 
even more devoted to asceticism and wrote more fer- 
vently for it. 

Tertullian was closely followed by Cyprian (Thascius 
Caecilianus Cyprianus). (A. D. 195-258.) Cyprian was the 



ANTE-NICENE CHRISTIAN THOUGHT. 53 

scion of a wealthy family in Carthage and appears first 
as a teacher of rhetoric, and after his con- 
Cyprian, version in A. D. 245, as a presbyter. Shortly 
after this he reluctantly accepted the office 
of bishop being urged thereto by the people. When the 
persecution under Decius broke out he was persuaded to 
conceal himself for a time, but returned to find his path 
beset by difficulties arising from questions as to the 
treatment of the lapsi and the authority of the bishop in 
the Church. When Valerian revived the Decian perse- 
cution Cyprian was apprehended and beheaded in A. D. 
258. He was not as original nor as vigorous a writer as 
Tertullian ; but more fluent and graceful. He was dis- 
tinguished less as a theological thinker than as an ecclesi- 
astic. Of his numerous writings the De Unitate Ecclesice 
and De Lapsis deserve mention. 

Of the other ecclesiastical writers who used Latin, the 
best known are : Minucius Felix who composed an apol- 
ogy entitled Octavius, Commodian, an African, Victorinus 
of Petavium, Arnobius and Lactantius. 

III. The Alexandrian School. Alexandria maintained 
for many centuries its primacy as the seat of Greek learn- 
ing. It was natural, therefore, that when the 
Alexandrian Church was ready to establish a school for 
the education of its clergy it should choose this 
city as the place for it. This school was primarily in- 
tended for the instruction of such pagan converts to 
Christianity as had some philosophical education and de- 
sired to be more fully informed regarding the mysteries 
of the faith. Its scope was, however, either enlarged or 
changed so as to make it the instrument for the training 
of Christian teachers. 

The first of the teachers in this school was Pantaenus, a 
converted Stoic philosopher (A. D. 190). He made use of 
Greek scientific and philosophical thought in 
a e n m1nt US ' formulating the truths of the Christian faith. 
He was followed by Clement (Titus Flavius 
Clemens, A. D. 220). Clement was also a convert from 
paganism. During the persecution under Septimius Sev- 
erus (A. D. 202) he fled to escape the rage of the heathens, 



54 CHURCH HISTORY. 

but persisted in his literary and other labors until his 
death. His standpoint is that of the mediator between 
Christian doctrine and pagan philosophy. Many of his 
positions are the result of the putting of Platonism as a 
foundation under Christian teaching. His known works 
were the Address to the Greeks, the Pcedagogue, the Stro- 
mata (Patchwork) and the lost Hypotyposes* 

The greatest of the Alexandrian teachers, in fact the 
greatest of the ante-Nicene fathers, was Origen (Adaman- 
tius Origenes, A. D. 185-254). Origen was 
. born of Christian parents and given all the ad- 

vantages that a Christian could afford. His 
father and mother died the martyr's death in 
A. D. 202. But Origen, unterrified by their fate, continued 
in the profession of his faith and was early employed as a 
teacher in the catechetical school at Alexandria. He be- 
ecame a pupil of Ammonius Saccas in order to qualify 
himself for the task of giving philosophical instruction. 
He also perpetrated self-mutilation, in mistaken obedience 
to Matt. xix. 12. He later visited Rome, Arabia, where 
he engaged in missionary labors, Greece, Antioch and 
Palestine. The bishop of Alexandria, jealous of his 
growing fame, summoned him to that city, arraigned him 
before two councils and excommunicated him on the 
ground of heresy, self-mutilation and contumacy. Origen 
withdrew to Caesarea and under the protection of the em- 
peror Philip opened a theological school there. Here 
during the Decian persecution he was seized, tortured, and 
in consequence of the injuries received in this way died 
in A. D. 254. 

He was an industrious worker and the results of his 
literary activity are voluminous. They consist in contri- 
butions to all the then cultivated branches of 
Origen's Works. theological learning. They may be grouped 
roughly as : (a) Critical. Here belongs the 
monumental work to which the author devoted twenty- 
seven years of research, entitled Hexapla. This was 
a critical edition of the current version of the Old Testa- 
ment Scriptures, the Septuagint. It exhibited, in six 
parallel columns for the purpose of comparison, the 



ANTE-NICENE CHRISTIAN THOUGHT. s5 

Hebrew text, a transliteration of this in Greek letters, the 
text of the LXX, the version of Aquila. that of Symma- 
chus and that of Theodotion. By a system of signs the 
variations of these versions were pointed out to the user. 
The enormous bulk of this work prevented its multiplica- 
tion in many copies, and it was consequently lost with the 
exception of a few fragments. (b) Exegetical. The 
works of this group were either short notes (Scholia), ex- 
pository discourses (Homilies), or commentaries on whole 
books. His method of interpretation has been called alle- 
gorical. In fact its fundamental assumption was that 
there are to be distinguished in Scripture three senses co- 
existing : the literal, the moral, and the mystical. The 
last of these Origen sought for more eagerly than the 
others ; hence his reputation for allegorism. (c) Theolog- 
ical. In this group is to be placed another great work 
entitled First Principles {De Principiis, nepi apyjb^ build- 
ing up a system of Christian truth out of the Biblical 
materials through the use of Greek philosophy. Here 
also belongs the lost treatise on the Resurrection, (d) 
Apologetical. The treatise Against Celsns is the reply of 
Origen to the attacks of the ablest representative of pagan- 
ism on Christianity, (e) Practical. This group consists 
of writings intended to promote personal piety and con- 
secration. Such are the discourse on Prayer and the 
Exhortation to Martyrdom. 

Origen was a pioneer in the field of theology. His 
previous training led him to see the vast breadth and dif- 
fusion of truth and to seek for it not by way 
Origen's The- f exclusion but by comprehension. It was 
his habit in controversy with heretics to try 
to persuade his opponents of the narrowness and frag- 
mentary nature of their views and the breadth and 
completeness of the catholic view. In this way he 
prevailed on Beryl of Bostra to abandon his error. 
But this characteristic led him to introduce into his sys- 
tem a number of elements which were disavowed by the 
Church later as heresies. Such were the teachings of the 
eternity of all souls, of transmigration, of spiritual bodies, 
of the efficacy of the atonement for other intelligent but 



S 6 CHURCH HISTORY. 

fallen beings besides man, of the subordination of the 
essence of the Son to that of the Father, and of the final 
restoration of all fallen beings. 

The most important successor of Origen in the School 
of Alexandria was Dionysius (the Great, A. D. 265). He 
was evidently a man of tact as well as of zeal. 
Dionysius. He opposed the Chiliasts of his day and vici- 
nage, but in such a manner as not to occasion 
a violent controversy and lead to a schism. His writ- 
ings are much praised by the ancients, but only frag- 
ments of them are extant. 

Among the disciples of Origen in Caesarea Gregory Thau- 

maturgus (the Wonder-worker, A. D. 270) was one of the 

most eminent as well as devoted to his teacher. 

Gregory Thau- jj e composed a Confession of Faith (ZvMzgis 

izi<7-zii)i) and a Panegyric o?i Origen. Another 

adherent of Origen's in Caesarea was Pamphilus, bishop of 

Caesarea, who wrote commentaries on the Old Testament. 

Origen made not only disciples but also opponents. 

The most important of these was Methodius, bishop of 

Olympus (A. D. 311). Although himself a philosophical 

theologian, Methodius assailed some of Ori- 

Methodius. gen's special views, such as the preexistence 

of the soul and its fall before entrance into 

this life. He wrote on the Resurrection and in praise of 

abstinence from marriage. 

It was through the labors of such men that the Church 
during this age gradually came to the consciousness of 
its possession of a rule of faith and a system 
5aToifo n f C th°e fthe of doctrine. As appeal was made to the 
New Testament, apostolic writings to decide disputes as to the 
truth of beliefs held and propounded, the fact that their 
writers had the special guidance of the Holy Spirit was 
brought to the surface. This belief in the inspiration of 
the New Testament and the coordination of its books with 
the Old Testament Scriptures w r as not the consequence 
or outgrowth of the theological thinking of this age, but 
an underlying factor simply made known now. Unless 
this belief were thus underlying it would be hard to ex- 
plain the appeal to these books as final authority in de- 



ANTE-NICENE CHRISTIAN THOUGHT 



57 



bate. But if these writings are binding in a manner 
different from other writings they must be carefully dis- 
tinguished from spurious and counterfeit productions. 
Thus the collection and separation of the New Testament 
books takes place and the canon emerges. 

The exigencies of church life further led to the use of a 
short summary of belief contained in a few lucid sen- 
tences. This was probably the nucleus of the 
Fahh Rule ° f Apostles' Creed and was used first in its 
briefest and simplest form in the baptism of 
converts. Hence the terms " Church Rule," " Rule of 
Truth " and " Rule of Faith " applied to it. The early 
formation of this Rule is proved by its diffusion through- 
out the w T hole Church. Irenaeus in Gaul, Tertullian in 
North Africa and Origen in Alexandria, all give in sub- 
stance, at least, the same contents for this earliest creed. 
One of the first questions suggested by the studies of 
of the Christians at this time was as to the rela- 
tions of the Father and the Son in the God- 
Heresies— the head, The Catholic Church emphasized the 

Alogi. . . ii-i 

unity of God as against pagan polytheism, but 
insisted, both in, the Rule of Faith and in practice (in 
worship), on the distinction of the Father, the Logos, and 
the Holy Spirit. As against this position arose various 
departures. First the Alogi denied and rejected the 
whole doctrine of the Logos and with it its Biblical sources, 
the Fourth Gospel and the Book of Revelation. They did 
not, however, at any time find any considerable number 
of adherents. The tendency then arose to dissolve the 
mystery which necessarily accompanies the doctrine of 
the Trinity. 

The different attempts to accomplish this end have been 
summed up under one single designation applied to them 

at the time, that of Monarchianism. Mon- 
Monarchianism. archianism is the reduction of the Trinity into 

aUnity. It is the assertion that there is but 
one " principle in the Godhead." It attempts to elimi- 
nate the mystery of the Trinity in one of two ways, (i) It 
either denies the essential divinity of Jesus Christ and 
ascribes to him a certain divine presence or power as 



5 8 CHURCH HISTORY. 

supernatural endowment. In this form it is Dynamic 
Monarchianism. Or (2) it makes Christ and the Holy 
Spirit mere manifestations of God, and in that case it is 
Modal Monarchianism. 

The first teacher of Dynamic Monarchianism was 
Theodotus, a tanner. He held that Jesus was the most 
pious and most righteous of men, conceived 
Schfa^ism. Mon " accor dingto the counsel of God by the power 
Theodotus. of the Holy Spirit, and born of the Virgin 
Mary ; that at his baptism the Holy Spirit descended 
on him and endowed him with the power of performing 
miracles ; but that otherwise he was not the Incarnate 
God, nor entitled to honor and worship as such. Victor, 
bishop of Rome, excommunicated Theodotus. Neverthe- 
less he made some followers. Artemon seems to have 
held similar views independently. Another Theodotus, a 
money-changer, is classified with these Monarchians be- 
cause he represented Jesus as the reincarnation in an in- 
ferior form of Melchizedek. His followers were some- 
times called Melchizedekians. 

The most distinguished Dynamic Monarchian was Paul 
of Samosata. (fl. A. D. 260-272). He was bishop of 
Antioch and is represented as a man fond of 
Paul of Samosata. p mp and riches and even immoral. He 
taught that the Logos was not a distinct 
person. That Jesus Christ was a mere man on whom the 
impersonal Logos rested and in whom it dwelt through 
his ministry. Paul was deposed by a council at Antioch 
in A. D. 269. 

The earlier form of Modal Monarchianism was called 
Patripassianism, because those who held it admitted that 
according to their doctrine God the Father, the 
ch^mfp°a n trL"o n] y God, suffered on the cross in the form 
passianism, G f Jesus Christ. Praxeas (fl. A. D. 175-189) 
was the first to teach Patripassianism. According to him 
God in his spiritual existence is the Father and in the 
material existence the Son. Tertullian appeared as the 
champion of the catholic view against Praxeas. Noetus 
(fl. A. D. 200) taught the Patripassian view at Smyrna. He 
summed up his system in the one sentence : " The Son 



ANTE-NICENE CHRISTIAN THOUGHT. 



59 



of God is his own Son and not another's." A sect of 
his followers was organized at Rome by his pupil Epi- 
gonus. Hippolytus combated this sect, and bishop 
Zephyrinus, without pronouncing himself an adherent of 
their views, protected and defended them. The attitude 
of this bishop was maintained by his successor Callistus 
also, and the controversy between Hippolytus and these 
bishops of Rome was waged with bitterness on both sides. 
The most pronounced form of Modal Monarch ianism 
was taught by the Libyan Sabellius at Rome. According 
to him God is a unity (monad). As resting in 
Sabellius. himself he is the Silent God ; as coming out 

of himself he is the Speaking God. For the 
purpose of creation and redemption he assumes three 
forms. These are not essentially different, but mere 
modes or manifestations. God thus transforms himself, 
adapting himself to the nature of what he is to do. In 
the Old Testament as Creator and Lawgiver he is the 
Father. In the New as Redeemer he became man as the 
Son. He descended on the apostles as the Holy Spirit. 
Beryl of Bostra is also mentioned as at one time a Mo- 
narchian, but nothing is known of his special 
Beryl. views. He was won over to the Catholic posi- 

tion by the reasoning of Origen. 
From the beginning of the second century a large sec- 
tion of the Christian Church entertained the expectation 
of the immediate coming of the Lord a second 
Chiiiasm. t ; me to re ig n f or a thousand years on earth 

according to Rev. xx. 2, 3. This belief has 
been called Chiiiasm. It was worked out into portrait- 
ures more or less distinct of the state of things during 
this millenium. Whenever the practical results on the 
Christian life of such views of the Second Advent were 
seen to be unwholesome, eminent leaders, like Caius, 
Origen and Dionysius of Alexandria, appeared against 
them. On the other hand many cherished the hope of 
Christ's immediate coming with delight and advantage to 
their souls. Such were Irenaeus, Tertullian and others. 
The question did not call forth action by the Church 
either favoring or opposing Chiiiasm. 



CHAPTER VI. 

ECCLESIASTICAL DEVELOPMENT. 

Several important changes, all in the way of multipli- 
cation and diversification of parts and functions take 
place in the period before us in the organization, wor- 
ship and life of the Church. 

In the government of the Church the distinction begins 
to be drawn sharply between clergy and laity. The 

clergy is likened to the Old Testament priest- 
Lait rgyand hood and so the Christian ministry assumes a 

sacerdotal character. Further the distinction 
between the title of bishop and that of presbyter be- 
comes emphasized, until the name bishop is applied ex- 
clusively to that one of the presbyters in a church who 
stands at the head of the body of presbyters. 

This differentiation of the episcopate along with the 
ascription of priestly functions to the ministry reaches its 

highest point for this age in the ideas of 
The Bishops. Cyprian. According to this father the bishop 

is the visible head of the community and the 
organ of the Holy Spirit. By him uninterrupted connec- 
tion is maintained with the Lord, and through him spirit- 
ual blessings reach the flock. He is the successor of 
the apostles and the vicar of Christ. Without submission 
to him there can be no true membership in the Church. 
The exaltation of the bishop naturally put presbyters 
into the position of assistants and counselors, who also 

assumed complete control and exercised all 
Deaams rs and tne bishop's functions in case of a vacancy 

in the office. The deacons were also attached 
to the bishop's office, but in a more indirect and sub- 
ordinate way, preserving the specific function of servants 
60 



ECCLESIASTICAL DEVELOPMENT. 61 

in external matters. They were, however, by virtue of 
their association with the bishop classed with the higher 
clergy along with presbyters and commissioned to preach 
and perform other religious services. 

Distinct from the higher clergy there appeared a num- 
ber of subordinate officers grouped together as the lower 
clergy. These were : (a) Readers, charged 
Lower Clergy. w £th the duty of reading the Scriptures in the 
divine service ; (b) Exorcists, employed in 
healing demoniacs, or casting out devils by the offering 
up of prayers for them ; (c) Acolytes, who were personal 
attendants of bishops and rendered such services as 
might be required of them; (d) Doorkeepers, who 
watched at the doors and prevented suspicious characters 
from entering at the time of and disturbing service ; (e) 
Sub-deacons, who were appointed in localities where the 
labors of the deacons became too heavy for them ; {/) 
Deaconesses, who ministered to women in communities 
where the seclusion of the female sex made it hard for 
men to perform services for them. The functions of 
deaconesses were, however, probably assigned to and 
performed by a new class called " widows," who bound 
themselves not to marry, and engaged also in the instruc- 
tion of female inquirers (catechumens). 

The election of bishops was still nominally in the 
hands of the community over which they were to preside ; 
but the presbyters assumed a deciding 
ConsecmtTon of voice in the matter, reducing the part of 
Bishops. the people to a mere assent to the choice 

made by them. Bishops were chosen generally from 
the ranks of presbyters, but occasionally from lower 
grades of clergy and even directly from the laity. The 
clergy below the rank of bishop were also nominally ap- 
pointed by the people, but the voice of the bishop be- 
came in such appointments practically supreme. When 
inducted into office bishops were consecrated by other 
bishops from neighboring churches. Presbyters and dea- 
cons were ordained by the laying on of hands by the 
bishop. 

The support of the clergy came from the offerings 



62 ' CHURCH HISTORY. 

of the people, which as the ministry assumed the char- 
acter of priesthood became more and more 
Mama r ee° fClersy ' re g u l ar - They came to be regarded in the 
light of tithes according to the provisions of 
the Mosaic law. Marriage was allowed* to all the clergy. 
But the unmarried were honored as more holy and conse- 
crated. The Oriental idea of the inherent impurity of 
the body with its passions and appetites found acceptance, 
and those living in conjugal relations were deemed less 
worthy to officiate in sacred places and on sacred occa- 
sions. 

The idea of the unity of the Catholic Church, which 
was seen emerging in the consciousness of Christendom 
at the end of the preceding age, was furthered 
^o/^n during the Ante-Nicene period by the more 

ization. compact organization of the local neighbor- 

hoods into provincial parishes under metro- 
politan bishops. Correlated with this movement was the 
subordination of such bishops as had charge of country 
districts under the name of rural bishops (Chorepiscopi 
y(Dpz7ti<TY.o-ot) with definitely limited powers and preroga- 
tives. These provinces again were grouped in larger ter- 
ritorial divisions according to the political divisions of the 
empire — the dioceses. 

These divisions and the progress in organization 
marked by them were further accentuated by diocesan 
and provincial synods. Important provincial 
Synods. synods began to be held about the end of the 

second century, first in Asia Minor, and later 
in North Africa, Gaul, Spain and Rome. At these the 
bishops had the deciding voice, but presbyters and deacons 
also sat and took part in the deliberations. Sometimes 
towards the end of the period the synods began to be 
drawn from larger areas than were circumscribed by pro- 
vincial lines. Thus a system of synods was inaugurated 
which reached its culmination in the Ecumenical Coun- 
cils. Types of the intermediate synod are those held at 
Aries (A. D. 314) and at Elvira (A. D. 306). 

Owing to their natural, political or historical importance 
to the Church certain of the episcopal seats acquired 



ECCLESIASTICAL DEVELOPMENT. ^ 

a higher place of honor and influence than the rest, 
and were in a sense lifted above the rest into 
^triarchates. archbishoprics, exarchates or patriarchates. 
Rome. Such were the bishoprics of Jerusalem, of 

Antioch, of Alexandria and of Rome. The last 
of these as the see of the capital of the empire claimed 
and was in general accorded larger influence than the 
other patriarchates. Thus arose the primacy of the see 
of Rome. 

As the Church grew in numbers and importance it be- 
came more and more difficult and at the same time more 
and more necessary to preserve its purity. A 
Ecclesiastical system of discipline became indispensable. 
This was evolved according to need and oc- 
casion. It was embodied in a collection of laws or canons 
under the name of Apostolic Constitutions and Canons of 
the Holy Apostles, 

The chief and only penalty inflicted by the Church was 
exclusion from the privileges of church membership, or 
excommunication. The offender was, accord- 
Discipiine. [ n g to apostolic precept and example, separated 
from the body of believers. A way was left 
open, however, for his restoration when he should sin- 
cerely repent. This restoration was quite as formal and 
solemn as excommunication, and followed a long process 
of confession and humiliation in token of the sincerity 
and earnestness of the penitent. 

Naturally different communities and different genera- 
tions in the same community varied much in the strict- 
ness with which they exercised discipline and 
Schism of the rigor with which thev demanded penitence 

Calixtus and ° ... . J - *. . 

Hippoiytus. as a condition for the readmission of the ex- 
communicated. A series of controversies 
arose with respect to this point, beginning with the attack 
of Hippoiytus on Calixtus, bishop of Rome, for laxity in 
restoring all manner of offenders to the privileges of com- 
munion. The discontent in the church of Rome with the 
looseness of Calixtus led a party in that church to sep- 
arate themselves from it, choosing Hippoiytus as their 
bishop. 



64 CHURCH HISTORY. 

Somewhat later, when the bishop Cornelius showed a 
similar lack of rigor in discipline, Novatian, a presbyter, 

rose up in opposition to the bishop and was 
Novatian. made bishop of a schismatic church, which 

grew to considerable proportions in conse- 
quence of the importance assumed by the question of 
discipline after the troubles of the Decian persecution. 
Novatian, however, took extreme ground, contending that 
it was the duty of the Church to preserve its own purity, 
and on no condition to readmit those who might once 
depart from its perfect way. 

Another controversy on the same subject arose in 
Carthage, where Cyprian adopted the rigorous policy of 

refusing readmission to the fallen (/apsi), 
FoISnatus S ' tnose wno na cl given up their Scriptures \tra- 

di fores), and those who had obtained certifi- 
cates of having sacrificed to the heathen gods (libellatici). 
A party of confessors asked for the restoration of these 
and denounced Cyprian as unworthy to rule over confes- 
sors, inasmuch as he had himself fled from persecution. 
They chose as their leader Felicissimus a deacon without 
Cyprian's consent and set up a bishop, Fortunatus, for 
themselves. Upon the assembling of a synod Cyprian so 
far modified his position as to admit offenders at the 
point of death and the schism was healed, though only 
after the lapse of some time. 

Still another schism growing out of the question of dis- 
cipline was the M eletian in Alexandria. Here the bishop 

Peter, although in prison for being a Chris- 
Meietius. tian, declared for the mild treatment of those 

who had denied Christ under persecution (dur- 
ing the reign of Diocletian). Meletius stood for the more 
rigid principle. He ordained several presbyters and dea- 
cons, and a schism ensued lasting for some time. 

In the matter of divine worship, a tendency made its 
appearance to separate the agape from the Lord's Sup- 
per, in consequence of which the agape fell 
Worship. gradually into disuse. The Lord's Supper 

itself was separated from the ordinary service 
of worship and a higher degree of sacredness assigned to 



ECCLESIASTICAL DEVELOPMENT. ' 65 

it. The service was thus divided into two parts, of which 
the first, called the missa catechumenorum, open to all, 
consisted of the reading of Scripture, prayer and sermon. 
The second part under the name of missa fidelium in- 
cluded the Eucharist with appropriate services of prayer 
and sacred song. 

In connection with baptism, the compacting of the or- 
ganization of the Church made it necessary to insist on 

the admission only of such as were well pre- 
Baptism. pared for membership. To this end a period 

of instruction was set apart for such as were 
to present themselves for baptism. During this period 
candidates were called " Catechumens.'' At first baptism 
was administered with simplicity. But at the end of the 
second and the beginning of the third centuries an elab- 
orate ritual was observed in connection with it. The can- 
didate was required to declare his faith, to renounce the 
world and the devil, the water was blessed by the bishop 
and other minor acts symbolical of some aspect of the 
truth in baptism were performed. A question arose as 
to the validity of baptism administered by heretics. The 
North African Church, under the influence of Tertullian, 
denied the validity of such baptism and rebaptized her- 
etics when they applied for admission into the Catholic 
Church. The Roman Church, however, followed the op- 
posite practice. They admitted such persons on the im- 
position of hands, provided they had been baptized 
already in the name of the Trinity. The point was ear- 
nestly contended for by Cyprian in behalf of the strict 
view, and by Stephen, bishop of Rome, in behalf of the 
Roman practice. Gradually the latter prevailed and was 
adopted formally at the council of Aries (A. D. 314). 

Divine worship necessarily implies stated times at which 
it is offered. The Lord's day (Sunday) was uniformly 

observed as the weekly festival day commem- 
Sacred Sea- orating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The 

sons 

Sabbath (Saturday) though not altogether dis- 
regarded was less and less observed as the period came 
to its close. As the resurrection of the Lord formed the 
basis of the weekly feast day, so it also did of the yearly. 

5 



66 CHURCH HISTORY. 

The Jewish Passover was adopted and Christianized by 
the putting of Christ and his suffering and triumph over 
death as the events signified in it. The crucifixion was 
commemorated by a fast varying in duration, in different 
localities, from one day to forty (Quadragesima). Resur- 
rection day was celebrated as the great day of the year. 
It was followed by Ascension day, forty days later, and 
by Pentecost, which fitly closed the circle of days observed 
through the year. 

Some difference in practice existed through the last 

part of the second century as to the date of Easter, 

Jewish Christians taking Christ as the anti- 

Quartodedman type of the paschal lamb, and continuing in 

v^ontrovcrsv 

other respects the idea and form of observance 
of the Jewish Passover, always kept the 14th day of Nisan 
as the day of the crucifixion and the following Sunday as 
Easter. The Western or Roman Christians insisted on 
observing Easter on Sunday without reference to the day 
of the month. They therefore kept the Friday following 
the 14th day of Nisan as Crucifixion day, and thus brought 
Easter on Sunday, Those who kept the 14th of Nisan 
were called " Quartodecimans" (Fourteenth-day ob- 
servers), and the controversy which ensued was called the 
Quartodeciman controversy. In the first phase of this 
controversy Polycarp stood for the Oriental, and Anice- 
tus, bishop of Rome, for the Roman custom. Later, Vic- 
tor, bishop of Rome, and Polycrates of Ephesus appeared as 
the contestants. Neither party prevailed formally, but 
the Western custom became gradually the usage of the 
whole Church. 

Increasing numbers made the older meeting-places of 
Christians for worship entirely inadequate for the age 

under consideration. Under the provisions 
church f the law governing the mutual-help societies 

the Church acquired land during the early 
years of the third century with the purpose, no doubt, of 
erecting churches. If they did this, the buildings were 
destroyed during the persecutions of the third century. 
From the few data left concerning the form of these early 
buildings it is to be inferred that there were several types 



ECCLESIASTICAL DEVELOPMENT. 67 

of church building. One of these was patterned after 
the Jewish synagogue, another after the basilica or large 
hall of a Roman estate, a third was probably modeled 
after the schola or clubhouse of the mutual-help society. 

Following the custom of the Jews, the Christians of the 
early ages buried their dead in tombs hewn out of the 
rock. To do this, however, near large cities 
Catacombs. it was necessary to dig deep and create a kind 
of labyrinth. Several such subterranean cem- 
eteries called " catacombs " are known. The most ex- 
tensive catacombs are situated near Rome. They con- 
sist of a great number of rooms connected by alleys or 
corridors. The walls of each chamber are lined with 
deep niches which served as the depositories for the 
bodies of the departed. Parts of these catacombs have 
been supposed to have served as places of meeting for 
worship during the Decian and Diocletian persecutions. 

The only remains of decorative art are those found in 
the catacombs, and consist mainly of symbolic representa- 
tions of the Christian life. The most original 
Emblematic emblem used here is the fish representing the 
Saviour.* Other symbols of Christ more ob- 
vious in significance are the Shepherd, the Fisherman, 
the Lamb, the Vine. Life was portrayed under the figure 
of a ship sailing on a sea. Historical scenes drawn from 
the Old Testament are also found. 

The desire to live a spotless life was naturally generated 
by the gospel in the hearts of all believers. In some 
this desire was developed in such an intense 
Asceticism. degree as to lead to the denial of free vent to 
the appetites. The feeling that the body as 
material was the seat of evil in man, a result of Oriental 
dualistic forms of thought, no doubt, contributed some- 
what in fostering this feeling. The result was the growth 
of asceticism within the Christian Church. Ascetics were 
distinguished by their abstinence from pleasing food and 
from marriage. During the latter half of the second cen- 

* Yxffoq meaning " fish " was made to yield the five initial letters 
of the Lord's descriptive name, as follows : 'I (rjcovq), X (p/crroc), 
9 («n>), T (i6g), 2 (vrilp). 



68 CHURCH HISTORY. 

tury they formed themselves into a sect, that of the En- 
cratites, to which the apologist Tatian was attracted. 

In the third century a class of ascetics appeared, who, 
in order to live more in accordance with their ideas of 
Christian holiness, withdrew from populous 
Hermits— places, hoping thus to avoid the vanities and 
temptations of the world. These were called 
" hermits." * They lived in deserts. The earliest of the 
hermits is Anthony. He was born about the middle of 
the third century, in Memphis, and having determined to 
live the life of a hermit, chose as his residence a ruined 
tower far from the habitations of other men. Here he 
lived and, according to tradition, struggled fiercely with 
temptations. During the course of one of the persecu- 
tions, hearing in some manner of the trials of the Chris- 
tians, he visited Alexandria, encouraged the persecuted, 
and incidentally his reputation for sanctity became the 
occasion for others to follow his example. Another famous 
hermit was Paul of Thebes, who dwelt in a cave farther 
away from the world even than Anthony. 

Rather loosely allied with Christianity and yet in a sense 
associated with it was the form of religion taught by Mani 
(Manichaeus) and called Manichaeism. Mani 
Mankhaeism. (a. D. 216-277) was descended from a distin- 
guished Magi an family. He traveled from 
his native city in Babylonia, then under the dominion of 
Persia, far into India and China. On his return he pro- 
claimed his new doctrines, made adherents, was perse- 
cuted and finally cruelly put to death. The system he 
taught was essentially a dualistic religious philosophy. He 
held to the original and independent existence of the two 
principles of Good and Evil. From these, through a 
mythological account, he derived the world. In the pres- 
ent constitution of the world the good is found in the 
light, therefore in the sun and moon. Man contains in 
himself elements of both. To redeem the good in man 
the Jesus patibilis comes into the world, and, while teach- 
ing men the way of deliverance, appears to suffer at the 

* From epTj/uog, " desert ; " also Eremites. 



ECCLESIASTICAL DEVELOPMENT. 69 

hands of Satan. Associated with this system of philoso- 
phy, Manichaeism includes an organization and worship. 
The body of believers was divided into two classes : the 
initiated or elect, and hearers or catechumens. Over the 
whole body one president ruled as vicar of Mani. He 
was, however, assisted by twelve apostles. These had 
seventy-two bishops under them, and these again a num- 
ber of presbyters and deacons. The worship of the 
Manichaeans was twofold — internal and external. The 
external was simple and spiritual ; the internal was kept 
secret. Their moral code was summed up in three laws 
called the law of the lips {signaculum oris), which bound 
the faithful to close his lips against the entrance of that 
which was evil, animal food and wine, and the exit of im- 
pure words. The seal of the hands {signaculum rnanuum) 
bound him against evil work with the hand, and the seal 
of the bosom {signaculum sinus) bound him against all 
sexual pleasure. The Manichaeans found a large number 
of adherents in the West and occasioned not a little 
trouble to the Church. They were, however, persecuted 
as a foreign and pernicious sect, as early as A. D. 290, 
under Diocletian, and always zealously repudiated by the 
Church as a heretical people. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE NICENE AGE (A. D. 325-590). 

Church and State. 

The relation of Christianity to the imperial government 
was destined to remain a doubtful one as long as the im- 
perial power was shared by tw r o men as differ- 
Constantine en t as Constantine and Licinius. Constan- 

and Licinius. , . , n . . . , . .. , 

tine had definitely made up his mind, not only 
to leave Christianity unmolested, but to favor it. He 
further took up the idea of the unification of the empire, 
broached by Diocletian, and determined to realize it by 
making the Christian religion the one religion of the 
State. Whatever the truth be concerning his conversion.* 
he certainly grew to be a consistent friend of the religion 
of the cross, and adopted this emblem (the cross or lab- 
arum) as the sign on his standards. Licinius, on the 
other hand, continued hostile to Christianity in spite of 
the edict of Milan which he had issued jointly with Con- 
stantine in A. D. 313. The solution of the difference 
could only come in one way, viz. by the concentration of 
the power into the hands of the one or the other. This 
was accomplished after a short struggle. Constantine re- 
mained the sole emperor in A. D. 324. The following year 
he transferred the seat of empire from Rome to the new 
city which he founded on the site of the old Byzantium, 
and which has been called after him, Constantinople, 
though he designed that it should receive the name of 
New Rome. 

* According to a story which was early circulated he saw on the 
eve of his victory over Maxentius a bright cross in the western 
skies with the motto " By this Sign Conquer" (Ev tovtu vim). 

70 



THE NICENE AGE. 



71 



From the date of this event, whose revolutionary influ- 
ence can hardly be overstated, the Church became the 
recipient of a number of immunities, privileges 
Christianity an d favors, amounting to its adoption as the 

made the State . ' T ° i r 1 

Religion. state church. Laws were enacted for the 

protection of Christians against Jews, Sunday 
was recognized as a holiday, and public business was for- 
bidden on it, churches and burial-places confiscated dur- 
ing the persecutions were ordered to be restored to the 
Christians, new and much more costly and imposing 
churches were erected, grants of money for other ecclesi- 
astical purposes were made, and finally fifty elegantly exe- 
cuted manuscripts of the Bible (the Septuagint Old Tes- 
tament, and the Greek New Testament) were ordered to 
be prepared under the supervision of Eusebius of Caesarea. 
Constantine's private life was not altogether moulded 
by the spirit of the religion he favored. He retained the 

title and exercised the functions of the heathen 
garacter^of office of Pontifex Maximus. He was guilty of 
His sons. the death of his son Crispus and his wife 

Fausta, besides several more distant kinsmen. 
Nevertheless he formally entered the Church and received 
Christian baptism just before his death (A. D. 337). His 
sons divided the empire ; Constantine II. (A. D. 337-340) 
ruled "in the northwestern portion; Constans (A. D. 337- 
350) in the West, and Constantius (A. D. 337-361) in the 
East. They all continued towards Christianity, as they 
understood it (i. e. adopting Arianism as the true form 
of it), the policy of State protection and interference. 

Julian, called " the Apostate " (A. D 361-363.) became 
the leader of a short-lived pagan reaction. He was born 

in Constantinople in A. D. 331. He was the 
Julian. son f Constantius, the younger half-brother 

of Constantine the Great. When Constan- 
tine's sons succeeded their father, Constantius was put 
to death, and Julian and his older half-brother were spared 
only because they were considered harmless. The 
jealousy of the emperor Constantius afterwards caused 
them to be banished to Capadocia, where they were edu- 
cated in the Christian faith, and prepared for clerical 



7 2 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



service as lectors. But Julian regarded himself as the 
victim of Christian persecution. In A. D. 351 Gallus was 
created Caesar by the emperor, and Julian was permitted 
to return to Constantinople, but was shortly again exiled 
to Nicomedia. He subsequently obtained permission to 
visit Athens, and pursued his studies in that city. On 
the death of Gallus he was recalled to Constantinople, 
and Constantius created him Caesar, and gave him com- 
mand of the armies in Gaul. There he gained high dis- 
tinction for military skill and personal bravery. On the 
death of Constantius he became sole emperor. On his 
accession he made a public avowal of paganism of which 
he had been a secret adherent from the age of twenty. It 
was no ordinary profession, but the expression of a strong 
authoritative conviction. The great aim and controlling 
principle of his government was the suppression of 
Christianity and the restoration of the pagan worship, 
He re-opened the temples which had been closed, and 
ordered decaying ones to be repaired ; removed the cross 
from the military standards, the court-room, the imperial 
statue, etc., and substituted pagan emblems in its place. 
A reformed and restored paganism was again to be the 
religion of the State, and to enjoy all the privileges of a 
state establishment. His reign was too short to show 
what precise form this pagan revival might ultimately 
have taken. His career was cut short in a battle with 
the Persians. Had he returned from this war it is not 
unlikely that he would have opened a direct attack on 
the Church. He was the last Roman emperor who was 
hostile to Christianity.* 

After this short interruption the policy of Constantine 
was resumed by Jovian and continued throughout the 

period. At the death of Theodosius the em- 
^toration of pj re was divided into the eastern and western 

branches under his sons Arcadius in the 
East and Honorius in the West. The Western em- 
pire succumbed before the barbarians in 476, under Rom- 

* It was commonly reported among the Christians that he ex- 
claimed just before he expired, " Thou hast conquered, after all, O 
Galilean ! " But for this report there was no foundation. 



THE NICENE AGE. 73 

ulus Augustulus. The Eastern continued under a series 
of rulers, the most distinguished of whom was Justinian I. 
the Great (A. D. 527-565). 

When Christianity was adopted as the state religion it 
naturally assumed the aggressive attitude towards pagan- 
ism. During the brief reign of Julian a vigor- 
Atutude of ous effort was made by a number of pagan 
ophy n thinkers to reverse the position of the parties, 

but with its failure heathenism was compelled 
to take the defensive. Instead of claiming, as heretofore, 
the right of the old faith to dominate, its champions now 
pleaded for its toleration on the ground of its historic asso- 
ciations. This was the position taken by such men as 
Libanius, the rhetorician of Nicomedia, Themistius of 
Constantinople and Symmachus of Rome. More uncom- 
promising in their paganism were Ammianus Marcellinus, 
known for valuable contributions to our acquaintance 
with the history of the times, Eunapius and Zosimus and 
the pagan school at Athens which was suppressed by Jus- 
tinian in the sixth century. In Alexandria heathen phi- 
losophy (Neo-platonism) found a brilliant champion in the 
person of Hypatia, who lectured in Alexandria on the 
subject of philosophy and was cruelly murdered by a mob 
on account of her supposed opposition to the bishop 
Cyril. ' 

As the Church assumed more and more this aggres- 
sive attitude towards paganism, it was natural that the 
imperial government should reflect this atti- 

H UpP h essi ° n ° f tuc ^ e * n an ever mcreasm g intolerance of hea- 
thenism. Accordingly, we find Gratian (A. D. 
375-383) first giving up the title and office of Pontifex 
Maximus, as a heathen office, and withdrawing state sup- 
port from the Vestal Virgins. Valentinian II. (A. D. 375— 
392) removed the altar of Victory from the vestibule 
of the senate chamber, where it had stood for centuries 
as the emblem and instrument of the old religion in rela- 
tion to the State. In the East, Theodosius the Great 
(A. D. 379-395) issued a* strict prohibition of idolatry, 
making it a penal offence even to pour out libations to 
the heathen gods (A. D. 392). In a short time heathen- 



74 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



ism was extinct in the cities and was to be found only 
in rural districts ; hence it was called u paganism " (the 
religion of the pagani, that is the peasants). The last 
vestiges of heathenism as a state religion disappeared 
with the suppression of the Lupercalia in Rome, A. D. 
492 ; and the closing of the school of philosophy in 
Athens by Justinian in A. D. 529 put an end to the last 
center of diffusion of pagan ideas. Justinian further com- 
pelled all his subjects to be baptized. 

A compromise between paganism and Christianity was 
attempted by a sect called Hypsistarians. These com- 
bined fire and sun worship with certain Jewish 
Hypsistarians ideas and claimed to worship u The Almighty " 

and Euchetae. . ,, TT . , ,, , r . . Jt 

or the " Highest, whence their name.* 
Another similar sect was that of the Messalians whose 
sole form of worship was prayer offered to the Sovereign 
of the Universe, whence they were also called Euchetae.t 
Beyond the jurisdiction of the empire the fortunes of 
Christianity were diverse. In Persia its adoption by the 
Roman State put it under suspicion, and per- 
christianity secution, unknown before, began to be expe- 
rienced by Christians as they were supposed 
to be in sympathy with Rome in its war on Persia. Such 
a persecution was undertaken by Shahpur (Sapor) in spite 
of the protests of Constantius in A. D. 343 and continued 
till A. D. 381. At that date Bishop Maruthas of Tagrit ob- 
tained exemption from persecution for Christians, but 
in A. D. 414 another outburst of heathen fanaticism put 
them under the ban once more. From this state Theo- 
dosius II. delivered them by a compact with the Persian 
king Varanes, promising in return toleration for Zoroas- 
trians in the Roman Empire. 

The Christian Church of Armenia (mentioned as already 

in existence at the end of the second century) was, through 

the efforts of Gregory, surnamed the Illumi- 

in Armenia. nator, taken into favor by Tiridates II. and 

given the position of the state church nearly 

at the same time as in the Roman Empire. It also made 

* 'YiplcToQ — Highest. Hypsistarian — a worshiper of the Highest. 
f JZi>xy' — prayer. Euchetae — " Praying people." 



THE NICENE AGE. 



75 



vast strides forward in growth. It gained its independence 
as a national church in A. D. 366, when at a synod held at 
Valarschapad, Narses the patriarch of the national church 
was recognized as Catholicos (primate). Somewhat later 
under Mesrob (A. D. 441), who invented an alphabet and 
translated the Bible into Armenian, the beginning of a lit- 
erature was made. Moses Choronensis is the chief repre- 
sentative of this literature, having written the history of 
the people. 

To this period belongs the foundation of the Church 
of Abyssinia. This event is ascribed to the labors of two 
young men, ^Edesius and Frumentius, who 
in Abyssinia, were providentially led into the country in 
consequence of the shipwreck and death of 
the merchant Meropius with whom they were associated. 
Their preaching resulted in the conversion of the king, 
and the way was opened for further labors among the 
people by monks from Egypt. 

In the West, Christianity came in contact with the Teu- 
tonic and Keltic races. Of the Teutons, the Goths be- 
came acquainted with it through the Roman 
Among the captives whom they carried home from their 

Goths. - L . » 1 1 • • 1 rr-.i 

battles with the imperial troops. I he apostle 
of the Goths, however, that is he who organized and placed 
Christianity on a sure footing among them, was Ulfilas 
(A. D. 311-383). He was probably born a Christian and 
trained for service in the Church. While on a mission as 
embassador of the Gothic king at Constantinople he w T as 
consecrated bishop. As Arianism was the form of belief 
in the ascendancy at the time, Ulfilas was and remained 
an Arian. Returning to his own people he engaged in 
numerous and varied labors among them. He founded 
churches, ordained a clergy, and translated the Scriptures 
into the Gothic. To do this, however, he was compelled 
first to invent an alphabet. His translation is considered 
a model of faithfulness to the originals and of idiomatic 
Gothic. He did not translate the Books of Kings, deem- 
ing that the Goths were by nature warlike enough and 
would likely be stirred up to undue ferocity by reading 
about the wars of the Jews. The Gothic Church was sub- 



7 6 CHURCH HISTORY. 

jected to persecution repeatedly, but endured with heroism 
and carried the gospel to the Suevi in Spain and the 
Vandals of Pannonia. 

Another Teutonic tribe, the Salian Franks, had made 
their way into ancient Gaul, taken possession of the land, 
and virtually extinguished all Roman institu- 
Amongthe tions. Their king Clovis (Chlodwig, A. D. 
481-5 1 1) was married to a Christian princess, 
Clotilde. Her attempts to win him over to her own faith 
were unsuccessful. But the king, having been hard 
pressed in a battle with the Alemanni, resolved to embrace 
the religion of Christ, if Christ should hear his prayer and 
give him the victory. This turned out to be the issue of 
the battle, and Clovis was baptized and compelled his 
army to be baptized. This conversion naturally was very 
superficial. The Franks carried into the Church many 
of their vices, such as cruelty, polygamy, perjury and 
simony. The most renowned of the bishops of the Frank 
Church at this early period was Gregory of Tours (A. D. 
540-594), whose History of the Franks is written in the 
spirit of mediaeval credulity, but still is very valuable as a 
source of information. 

Beyond the certainty that a Christian Church existed in 
Britain at this period, very little is known about it. The 
population was Keltic. From later data it is 
in Britain. t De inferred that this Church had an inde- 
pendence and character of its own. Its points 
of difference from the Roman Church were, (1) The time 
of observing Easter. They kept it on the Sunday follow- 
ing the full moon in March. (2) The form of tonsure. 
They cut the hair on the forehead and temples, making the 
shape of the crescent, while the Romans cut a circle on 
the top of the head. (3) Government by councils, and 
ignorance of, or refusal to recognize the authority of the 
bishop of Rome. 

Ireland was also inhabited at this period by a Keltic 
race and was known as Hibernia and Scotia. The exact 
date and circumstances of the introduction of 
in Ireland. the gospel here is hidden in obscurity. Dur- 
ing the course of the fifth century Coelestine, 



THE NICENE AGE. 



77 



bishop of Rome, sent Palladius to the island, but it does 
not appear that Palladius accomplished anything. The 
real " Apostle of Ireland " is St. Patrick (Patricius, A. D. 
378-460). The exact place of his birth is uncertain, but 
he was the son of a deacon and taken by marauders from 
his birthplace into Ireland. Here he was employed in 
taking care of sheep. He was released from this bond- 
age and went to his parents, but the needs of Ireland had 
made an impression on him, and he resolved to devote 
himself to the evangelization of its people. Going back, 
he gave himself up to perpetual labors. He traveled the 
whole length and breadth of the country, preaching and 
founding churches and monasteries, baptizing, teaching, 
ordaining clergy and enduring privations and sufferings in 
the midst of all these labors. He was remarkably suc- 
cessful. In less than a hundred years from the date of 
the beginning of his work the whole island was Christian- 
ized. Associated with him was St. Bridget, but very little 
is known of her work. 

Scotland was called at this age Caledonia and was in- 
habited by the Picts. St. Ninian and St. Kentigern, the 

first in the fourth century and the second in 
in Scotland, the sixth, are named as the earliest evangelists 

in the country. But their history is overlaid 
with so much legendary material that it is not possible to 
extricate the kernel of fact in it. The real Apostle of Scot- 
land is Columba(A. D. 521-597). He was born in Ireland, 
but upon invitation from the king of Scotland went over 
to that country and established himself on the little island 
of Iona (Hy, or I). From this place, where he established 
a monastery, as from headquarters, he went out on evan- 
gelizing expeditions. His zeal and consecration were very 
great and his success rapid. Other centers were estab- 
lished on the model of the monastery at Iona and the 
country was soon Christianized. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

THE HIERARCHY AND POLITY. 

The ecclesiastical polity developed during the Ante- 
Nicene age remained in its main outlines, theoretically, 
unchanged. Practically, however, the post- 
Extension of apostolic distinction that had been introduced 
ministration, into the presbyterial or episcopal office had be- 
come intensified. The use of the terms Bishop 
and Presbyter, as severally indicating two distinct orders 
of the clergy, had become more thoroughly established. 
The power of the bishop had been increased, and that of 
the presbyter had been seriously diminished. The deacon 
was regarded as a third and inferior order of the clergy, 
and had been permitted to participate in some of the 
functions of the superior orders. Bishops, presbyters 
and deacons, continued to rule the churches with the 
duties and prerogatives already attained by their respec- 
tive offices previously. But the office of the bishop 
became more and more important, and that of presby- 
ter less and less so. When the empire was completely 
reduced into a Christian State the territories under the 
jurisdiction of the bishops touched each other, not leav- 
ing, as previously, intervals of territory between the 
cities, over which no bishop had any authority. Thus 
the whole country came under the direct episcopal admin- 
istration. 

The legal position of the clergy was gradually defined 
by the concession to them on the part of the State of cer- 
tain privileges, (i) They were exempted from 
gran/el by the public service. (2) They were also exempted 
Government to from taxation, at least the burdensome forms 
t e urc . Q £ ^ ^ They were endowed with the power 

78 



THE HIERARCHY AND POLITY. 



79 



of deciding disputes before them, and their decisions 
were regarded as final. Besides these privileges granted 
to the clergy, as such, the Church was given the right of 
asylum. According to this provision the voice of the 
Church, when interceding for mercy for the guilty, was 
heeded. The Church was put in position to protect them 
from the severity of the law when they fled to her for 
refuge. 

The civil relations into which the Church came brought 
into existence a number of semi-secular or legal offices. 

These though not regarded as clerical, were 
New Offices, loosely attached to the ecclesiastical system 

of the age. Such were the offices of (i) 
Oeconomi, or stewards of financial and business 
affairs. These took the place and work of the deacons 
of the older Church, as the deacons, became mere assist- 
ants of the bishops ; (2) Defensores, or legal advisers and 
advocates of the Church and the poor under its care be- 
fore the courts ; (3) Notarii, or notaries to draw up 
public documents and make records in due form ; (4) 
Chartophy lakes, or keepers of public documents ; and (5) 
Afiocrisiarii, or official representatives of the Church in 
the imperial court. To these must be added (6) Para- 
bolaui, or visitors of the sick, and (7) Copiatce, those charged 
with the burial of the dead. These last two classes were 
useful during seasons of pestilence, which often visited 
the large cities. 

The clergy, already sharply distinguished from the 
laity in the previous age, developed a character of its own 
Qualifications during this period. To this end the contribu- 
fcr entering ting factors were a selective process intended 

to keep out of the sacred service of the Church 
unworthy candidates. Certain qualifications were in- 
sisted on before ordination. Of these some had reference 
merely to the previous station in life or occupation of the 
candidate. Actors, dancers and others engaged in simi- 
lar employments were barred out by their occupation 
from entering the clergy. So were military men. Slaves 
also, as long as they were in the condition of slavery, could 
not be ordained, not on account of a contempt for the 



80 CHURCH HISTORY. 

condition of slavery, but on the principle that the servant 
of the Lord must be independent of all others. Hence, 
slaves when emancipated were freely ordained. Neophytes 
(those who had joined the church very recently) were 
also excluded, as were also very young persons. The age 
of thirty was fixed as the limit for presbyters, but the rule 
was not strictly adhered to. Another ground of selection 
was an educational qualification. Some knowledge of 
Christian truth, as found in the Scriptures, was always re- 
quired of the Christian ministry. At the period under 
consideration the standard was raised by the entrance into 
the clergy of men well versed in the ancient Greek and 
Latin classics (Gregory Nazianzen, Gregory of Nyssa, Basil 
and others). The schools of the Church at Alexandria, 
and Caesarea, now increased in number by the addition of 
those at Antioch, Edessa and Nisibis, exerted a strong 
influence in this direction. After entrance on the clerical 
office, ascetic requirements helped to differentiate the 
character of the clergy. Celibacy was insisted on in the 
West. In the East, though commended, it was not re- 
quired. 

The synodal system was perfected during this age by 
the convocation of ecumenical councils. These were 
calculated to represent the whole Church and deal with 
questions of vital importance. They were convened by 
the emperors. They formulated articles of faith and drew 
up rules for the regulation of discipline. Five ecumenical 
councils were held during this period : those 
CoZcST 1 at Nicsea (A. D. 325), at Constantinople (A. D. 
381), at Ephesus (A. D. 431), at Chalcedon 
(A. D. 451), and Constantinople (A. D. 553). 

The patriarchates which were developed, but somewhat 
dimly defined, before the dawn of this epoch, were dis- 
tinctly outlined and formally recognized in 
Patriarchates, ^q ecumenical councils. Their boundaries 
were fixed and the rights of precedence of 
their incumbents discussed and adopted. In Egypt the 
see of Alexandria was easily declared the chief and 
supreme seat of authority. Antioch retained its central 
and dominant position in Asia, but was limited on one 



THE HIERARCHY AND POLITY. 81 

side by the recognition of Jerusalem as an independent 
patriarchate after some struggle. On the other side the 
see of Constantinople grew in importance and became 
the center not only of the Church in Thrace, but also in 
Asia Minor, and even in the dioceses of Pontus and 
Cappadocia. The effect of this was not simply to reduce 
the patriarchate of Antioch but to raise that of Constan- 
tinople so far, that at the Council of Chalcedon (A. D. 451) 
it was recognized as equal in rank with the see of Rome. 
The title "patriarch" was now fixed upon to designate 
the bishops of these churches. They were empowered 
to ordain the metropolitans and simple bishops in their 
respective territories. An occasional exception to the 
rule of subordination to the patriarchs was made, as in 
favor of the bishop (metropolitan) of Salamis in Cyprus, 
who claimed and maintained his independence at the 
council of Ephesus (A. D. 431). Such were called autoce- 
phali (self-governing). 

The bishop of Rome was in the East numbered and 
ranked among the patriarchs, but the name did not pre- 
vail in the West. Neither were the bishops 
Claims of Rome. f Rome satisfied with a position which was 
geographically analogous to the patriarchates 
of the East. They early put forth the claim that their 
see was of apostolic origin. A little later this was modi- 
fied to the effect that all the churches in the West were the 
offshoots of the only western apostolic see,— that of Rome. 
The antiquity and apostolicity of the Roman Church was 
not disputed in the East. On the contrary, deference 
was paid to the Roman bishops, and the weight of their 
prestige was sought after by parties, in questions discussed 
in the East only. Their position in ecumenical councils 
was equal, if not superior, to that of any other bishops. 
But their right to dictate or interfere was denied when 
Julius (A. D. 337-352) proposed to bring the question of 
the deposition of Athanasius before a Roman council, 
though an eastern council had decided it. The eastern 
bishops assembled at Antioch in council declared that he 
had no right to interfere in the affairs of the Eastern 
Church. But the claim to primacy, instead of being 
6 



82 CHURCH HISTORY. 

abandoned by such resistance, was reasserted more and 
more clearly by the successors of Julius. Most impor- 
tant for his forcible presentation of this claim was Leo 
(A. D. 440-461.) 

Leo insisted on the rights of the bishops of Rome as 
successors of St. Peter. To this end he called attention 
to those facts in the Gospel history which 
Leo L show the apostle as the spokesman and rep- 

resentative of the other apostles in their re- 
lations with Christ (Matt. xvi. 18). But more important 
than the arguments adduced by him was the ability and 
dignity with which he managed the affairs of the Church in 
furthering the idea of the supremacy of his office. When 
the Western empire fell before the invading Goths the 
Church was left the sole heir to many of the functions 
exercised by it. Thus another impulse was given to the 
growth of the papal idea. Resistance to this idea was 
offered again in the East, and now also in the regions 
most immediately affected by it — Gaul and Britain. It 
received a temporary check during the reign of Justinian, 
and its further growth was no doubt delayed. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THEOLOGY AND CONTROVERSIES. 

The Nicene and post-Nicene ages are pre-eminently the 
period of theological controversy. The discussions re- 
garding the mystery of the Trinity with which 
vilws. and hlS tne previous period closed had led to no 
definite conclusion. Sabellius exercised con- 
siderable influence in Egypt and especially at Alexandria. 
Arius, a presbyter in that city and a man of keen mind, 
educated at Antioch, and thus accustomed to look at 
matters from a point of view differing slightly from that 
of the Alexandrians, propounded a view intended by him 
to meet and oppose the Sabellian influence. This view 
consisted in the teaching that Christ was not the off- 
spring of the divine nature, but of the divine will. He 
was created before the beginning of time. " There was 
once when he was not." Through him God made the 
world. He was sinless, but not by nature. Rather by 
his own act or conduct preserving himself from sin. 
Against this view the bishop of Alexandria declared him- 
self, first individually, and then through a synod (A. D. 
320). Arius and his partisans were excommunicated. 

This did not, however, end the debate. Constantine at- 
tempted to reconcile the parties, but failing, convened the 
first ecumenical council at Nicea (A. D. 325). 
Nke n a?A?D. 325. This was the largest assembly of bishops held 
up to this time. It represented all the sec- 
tions of the Church. The bishop of Rome, unable to at- 
tend in person on account of advanced age, sent two pres- 
byters as deputies. Two hundred and fifty bishops were 
reported as attending the meeting of the synod, besides 
presbyters and deacons and a large number of laymen. 
The emperor opened the sessions, but gave over the 

83 



84 CHURCH HISTORY. 

further conduct of the meetings to the "presidents." 
These were bishops among whom Hosius of Cordova is 
named. The discussions were led by Eusebius of 
Nicomedia, a partisan of Arius, Eusebius of Caesarea, a 
mediating party, and Athanasius for the bishop of Alex- 
andria. The result of the deliberations was the promul- 
gation of the Nicene Creed containing the teaching that 
the Son is " consubstantial " with the Father. Arius and 
those who would not subscribe to this creed were anathe- 
matized. 

But this decision was not a final settlement of the 
controversy. An effort to reach a compromise was im- 
mediately set on foot. The advocates of this 
Controversy, movement have been called " Semi-Arians." 
Their object was to have the Nicene Creed so 
modified as to omit the word " consubstantial " (homo- 
ousios) from it. They were led by Eusebius of Nicome- 
dia. The emperor who ratified the decisions of the coun- 
cil was won over to this party and alienated from Athana- 
sius, who had meanwhile succeeded Alexander as bishop 
of Alexandria. At a synod held in Tyre (A. D. 335), 
Athanasius was deposed and exiled. The emperor re- 
solved to reinstate Arius in his office, and was only pre- 
vented from so doing by the sudden death of Arius 
(A. D. 336). Constantine himself died the next year(A. D. 
337). Constantius, who succeeded him, openly espoused 
Arianism. Athanasius took refuge in Rome. Here his 
views were approved and the right to commune conceded 
him. Marcellus also, an extreme partisan of the " homo- 
ousian " doctrine, though condemned at Constantinople 
(A. D. 336), was recognized at Rome by a synod (A. D. 
341). To heal the breach thus made between the East 
and West, another council was called at Sardica in Bul- 
garia, (A. D. 344), but failed to accomplish anything. 
Still another synod held at Antioch (A. D. 345) formu- 
lated the Semi-Arian view in a creed called " the Long- 
drawn-out" (Macrostich), and condemned Photinus and 
the Photinians for holding the views of Marcellus. Dur- 
ing a temporary lull in the controversy Athanasius was 
recalle4 (A. D. 346), but was exiled again (A. D. 356). 



THEOLOGY AND CONTROVERSIES. 85 

Meanwhile the effort to compel the Western Church to 
adopt Semi-Arianism was made in three successive 
synods at Sirmium, Aries and Milan. 

Thus far the Arians and Semi-Arians had worked 
together. As soon as they obtained the victory over 

the Athanasians they separated. Aetius and 
Hom£iousians d Eunomius reasserted pure Arianism in a 

balder form than before. They used the ex- 
pression that Christ was of a " dissimilar " substance 
from the Father, hence they were called Anomceans. 
(From dudfiotog — dissimilar). The Semi-Arians from the as- 
sertion that the Son was of " similar " substance with the 
Father were called Homoiousians (8jww$ 9 similar). 
Again efforts were put forth to bring about an understand- 
ing on the subject. Synods were held annually at differ- 
ent places in the empire between A. D. 356 and 360. 
When, however, Julian ascended the imperial throne, the 
discussion was thrust aside for a time. Athanasius re- 
turned once more to his see in Alexandria. Jovian, who 
succeeded Julian, was an adherent of the Nicene Creed. 
His influence during a brief reign was mildly exerted in 
favor of the views expressed in that creed. At his death 
Valentinian I. (A. D. 364-375) was raised to the throne, 
and associated with himself Valens (A. D. 364-378) as 
co-regent in the East while he himself reigned in the 
West. Valens was an Arian, and showed himself a vio- 
lent partisan as a ruler. Valentinian favored the Nicene 
view which was generally accepted in the West. W 7 hile, 
therefore, the controversy was practically closed in the 
dominions of Valentinian, it was carried on vigorously 
for the next seventeen years in the eastern half of the 
empire. 

Meantime, in the West, the Church had steadily stood 
by the creed agreed to at Nicaea. Auxentius, the bishop 

of Milan, did indeed espouse the cause of the 
AmWeand S emi-Arians, but he found little sympathy 

among the bishops of Italy ; and, when he 
died, in A. D. 374, the eloquent Ambrose (A. D. 340- 
397) was lifted into his place by popular acclamation, 
and did much to hold the western branch of the Church 



86 CHURCH HISTORY. 

on the Nicene side of the controversy. Another great 
theologian of the West, during the same period, was 
Hilary (A. D. 320-366), bishop of Poitiers, who also ex- 
erted, through a work On the Trinity, a powerful influence 
against Arianism, suffering imprisonment for his views. 

Two new factors made their appearance during the 
reign of Valens. The first of these was the rise of the 
question as to the place of the Holy Spirit in 
Macedonian- the Trinity. Athanasius induced a synod at 
Alexandria (A. D. 362) to require the repudia- 
tion of the teaching that the Holy Spirit was a creature. 
Certain Semi-Arians, under the lead of Macedonius 
(whom Constantius had made bishop of Constantinople), 
persisted in holding the view thus condemned, and were 
called Macedonians, or, from the nature of their error, 
Pneumatomachi (" Opponents of the Spirit "). 

The second of the factors above alluded to was the 
entrance upon the scene of three men, who, by the weight 
of their united influence, contributed towards 
The Cappado- the final predominance of the Nicene view in 
ans. the East. These were the so-called Cappado- 

cians — Basil of Caesarea, Gregory of Nazian- 
zus, and Gregory of Nyssa. Basil (the Great, A. D. 330- 
379) was born of Christian parents and enjoyed the bene- 
fit of the teachings of good classical scholars. He gener- 
ally followed Origen in theology, and at first inclined to 
the Homoiousian (Semi-Arian) side, but later threw his 
learning and prestige to the side of the Homoousians. 
Gregory of Nazianzus (A. D. 325-389) was the son of a 
bishop, and companion in study of Basil. He was early 
ordained a presbyter by his father, and a little later be- 
came his father's assistant. He did not, however, con- 
sent to succeed his father on the latter's death, but went 
to Constantinople, and by his eloquence and depth of 
thought furthered the cause of the Nicene faith. Greg- 
ory of Nyssa (A. D. 330-395), a brother of Basil, was 
made bishop of Nyssa in Cappadocia, but drifted into 
Constantinople and took an active part in the 
?ncl en ' S Influ " g reat discussion. He was the most philo- 
sophical of the three Cappadocians, and 



THEOLOGY AND CONTROVERSIES. 87 

appreciated and yielded to the influence of Origen, al- 
though, as already noted, he adhered to the Nicene 
declaration of faith. 

Under the influence of these men, and others of lesser 
power, the Semi-Arian party was little by little drawn 
towards the Nicene position. Theodosius (A. D. 379- 
395), soon after his accession, called a second ecumenical 
council, to give the question before the Church a final 
consideration. This council met at Constantinople in 
A. D. 381, and, in addition to the definition of the rela- 
tions of the Son to the Father, already made at Nicaea, 
pronounced on the essential divinity of the Holy Spirit, 
and thus the doctrine of the Trinity was clearly set forth. 

The Arian controversy made it very clear that the com- 
prehensive tendency of Origen's systematic theologizing 
was a source of misunderstanding and dan- 
ComrSversy. g er - Both sides in the controversy quoted 
this great theologian ; and this because he 
had succeeded in so expressing his views as to include, in 
his comprehensive mode of thought, the truth represented 
by each. There arose, however, a certain type of think- 
ers who were unable to appreciate this phase of his 
thought. Between these, on the one hand, and those who 
admired Origen and followed him implicitly on the other, 
it was inevitable there should come a conflict. 

The first phase of this conflict was developed in Pales- 
tine towards the end of the fourth century. There a group 
of Christian thinkers took up the writings of Origen as a 
guide in their studies. The foremost of these were John, 
bishop of Jerusalem, Rufinus of Aquileia, and Jerome, 
one of the most prolific of the Latin Fathers of the 
Church. The devotion of these men to Origen drew 
down on them the displeasure and opposition of Epipha- 
nius, bishop of Constantia (Salamis), in Cyprus (A. D. 315- 
403). The reputation of Epiphanius for orthodoxy, and 
the consequent fear of being charged with heresy on the 
ground of Epiphanius' opposition, led Jerome to break 
away from his companions and fellow-admirers of Origen 
and attack Origen as holding a number of heretical views. 
This naturally brought forth answers and defences from 



88 CHURCH HISTORY. 

the other side. The conflict grew especially bitter be- 
tween Jerome and Rufinus, but led to no ecclesiastical 
action. 

At the same time, but upon occasion of a different set 
of circumstances a second conflict involving Origen's 

views, if not directly growing out of them, ap- 
ct7s P o h s^m and peared at Alexandria. Here Theophilus, the 

bishop, had declared himself distinctly against 
the anthropomorphic views held by some. He thus 
seemed to give his adherence to the spiritualistic theories 
of Origen. On being attacked by certain fanatical monks 
from the Scetic desert, he changed his attitude and 
became a vehement opponent of Origenism. In this 
way, however, he was brought into conflict with the monks 
of the Nitrian desert, who were Origenists. With these 
he carried on the controversy. As they betook them- 
selves to Constantinople to the protection of John Chry- 
sostom, the bishop of that city, Theophilus entered into 
a dispute with Chrysostom. Chrysostom, however, was 
not a violent partisan of Origenism. The controversy 
was, therefore, reduced to a personal one between these 
bishops. Chrysostom (The Golden Mouth, so called 
from his great eloquence, A. D. 347-407), was a native of 
Antioch and devoted himself in early life to monastic 
habit. But being unable to endure the severities of this 
form of life he returned to his home and was ordained 
presbyter. His natural gifts raised him to the bishopric 
of Constantinople. In the conflict with Theophilus, 
Chrysostom had to contend against the ill-will of the 
empress, who had been offended by his plain speech 
against the laxity in morals tolerated by her at court. A 
council held at an imperial estate near Chalcedon, called 
" The Oak," and presided over by Theophilus, condemned 
and deposed Chrysostom. He was banished from Con- 
stantinople, but recalled in consequence of a tumult 
caused by this measure. The enmity of the empress, 
however, was implacable. Chrysostom was condemned 
a second time on a technical charge and banished to a 
more distant place. This he never reached, succumb- 
ing to the hardships of the way. As an incident of this 



THEOLOGY AND CONTROVERSIES. 89 

conflict, a council convened by Epiphanius at Cyprus con- 
demned Origen's views (A. D. 401). 

The question of the essential unity of the Son with the 
Father from eternity once settled, discussions arose as 

to the relation of the divine and human ele- 
ComroieSfel ments in the Incarnate Son. How were the 

Godhead and human nature combined in the 
person of Christ ? The first attempt at the solution of 

this problem was made by Apollinaris (390). 
Apollinaris. This theologian was trained in the Platonic 

philosophy, and as he approached the difficult 
question of the person of Christ, resorted to the Platonic 
psychology for light. Here he found the distinction be- 
tween the animal or irrational soul and the spirit. He 
therefore asserted that in the Incarnation the eternal 
Logos took upon himself a true human body and a 
genuine animal soul, but no true human spirit. The 
place of this in the ordinary human nature was taken by 
the Logos himself, who is a true spirit. This doctrine 
was at once recognized as inconsistent with a belief in 
the true humanity of the Lord, and some of the foremost 
thinkers of the Church appeared in opposition to it. 
Among these were Athanasius, Gregory of Nazianzus, 
Gregory of Nyssa and especially Theodore of Mopsuestia. 
The doctrine was anathematized at the council of Con- 
stantinople (A. D. 381). 

The opposition of Theodore of Mopsuestia to Apollin- 
arianism was simply one of a group of characteristics 

developed by the school of thinkers which 
Mopsuestia. centered about Antioch. Theodore himself 

was the most prominent representative of this 
school. He distinguished himself as a student and com- 
mentator of the Bible, and was made bishop of Mopsues- 
tia (A. D. 393-428). He and his followers were inclined to 
insist on the integrity of the human nature of Jesus Christ. 
This tendency was slightly at variance with the tendency 
of the Alexandrian school, which emphasized the over- 
shadowing power of the divine nature. 

The Antiochene tendency, pressed to an extreme, issued 
in the Nestorian heresy. Nestorius, who gives the name 



9 o CHURCH HISTORY. 

to this form of belief, was educated at Antioch and be- 
came patriarch of Constantinople (A. D. 428- 
Nestorianism. 435). He was not, however, the originator 
of the heresy. This arose from the denuncia- 
tion from the pulpit by Anastasius, a presbyter under 
Nestorius, of the phrase " Mother of God " as applied to 
Mary. Anastasius preached against the use of this phrase, 
on the ground that Mary was not and could not be said 
to be the mother of the divine nature in Christ, but only 
of the human. He was attacked for this by the monks 
and the people and defended by the bishop. In the 
course of the discussion the view was elaborated that 
there are in Christ two distinct persons, the divine and 
the human. Meanwhile Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, 
appeared as the champion of the opposition to Nestorius, 
actuated in this course, perhaps, by personal ambition 
and jealousy. An ecumenical council was called to meet 
at Ephesus in A. D. 431. Before the arrival of the eastern 
bishops, who were known to favor Nestorius, and in the 
absence of Nestorius himself, as he refused to appear, 
though summoned, Cyril organized the council and secured 
the condemnation of Nestorius. A verdict thus obtained 
did not pass unchallenged, but after a few years of heated 
debate and a change of face at court from the side of 
Nestorius to that of Cyril, the decision was acknowledged 
as valid, Nestorius was deposed and banished, dying in 
exile (A. D. 439), and the Alexandrian view obtained the 
upper hand. 

The settlement of the question thus reached did not, 
however, prove a permanent one. Cyril was succeeded 
in the patriarchate of Alexandria by Dios- 
Eutychianism. corus, a man of intolerant and violent temper. 
Soon afterwards Eutyches, the aged head of a 
monastery in Constantinople, propounded the view that 
after the incarnation there were not two natures in Christ, 
but one. The human nature was so thoroughly absorbed 
in the divine that even the corporeal element in it was 
different from the ordinary human body. This view was 
opposed and soon condemned by the patriarch of Con- 
stantinople, Flavian, with the concurrence of the "resi- 



THEOLOGY AND CONTROVERSIES. 9I 

dent synod. " * Dioscorus now came to the rescue of 
Eutyches, who also had the support of the imperial court. 
The matter was again referred to a council, and Eutychian- 
ism was formally rejected (A. D. 449). But the emperor, 
not satisfied with this result, summoned an ecumenical 
council to meet at Ephesus the same year. Dioscorus 
assumed the control of this council, and the violence 
exhibited in it rightly gave it the name of " The Robber 
Synod. " Flavian was so maltreated that he died in con- 
sequence. Other opponents of Eutyches were forced to 
flee for their lives. 

Meantime Monophysitism became generalized. Not 
only the absorption of the human nature of Christ by the 
divine, but also the mixture of the two in a 
tism! 0P yS1 " third and a new theanthropic nature was advo- 
cated. The ascendency of these views was 
not, however, destined to last long. With the death of the 
emperor, Theodosius II., who had befriended and pro- 
tected Eutyches and his doctrine, a radical change came. 
Leo I., bishop of Rome, had outlined in a letter to Flavian 
the position to be taken by the Church. An ecumenical 
council was called and met at Chalcedon in 
Chakedon. A - D - 45 1- This council gave the final form to 
the definition of the relations of the human and 
divine elements in Christ. It declared for the true divin- 
ity and the perfect humanity of the Lord. These coexist 
in his one person without intermixture, without transmu- 
tation, without division, and without separation.f 

But, though the doctrine of the person of Christ was 
clearly set forth, political reasons interfered with the 
reunion of the parties to the controversy. 
MouophyJitism. Monophysitism had gained many adherents 
in Alexandria, Egypt and Palestine. A re- 
bellion broke out in Palestine, led by a monk named 
Theodosius. Riots and disturbances followed in Alex- 
andria. The patriarch of that city, Proterius, appointed 
after the deposition of Dioscorus, was assassinated, and 

* I^vvodo^ kvdq/iovGa, consisting of prelates residing in the city, 
t The terms used at Chalcedon were affvyxvTugj arpk'KTO)g ) adicu- 
p€Tug : axup'i-OTog. 



92 CHURCH HISTORY. 

a Monophysite elected in his place in the person of Timo- 
theus JElurus. In Antioch, Peter the Fuller, also -a 
Monophysite, was elected patriarch. The emperor, Leo I. 
(A. D. 457-474), maintained the orthodox side at Constan- 
tinople. Upon his death, his son-in-law, Zeno, succeeded 
him, but was displaced by a usurper, Basiliscus (A. D. 475- 
477). This emperor was an ardent Monophysite and put 
forth a document condemning the creed of Chalcedon and 
the letter of Leo which had foreshadowed it. He was not, 
however, allowed to remain in power very long. Zeno 
was reinstated, and the adherents of the Chalcedonian 
creed regained power. Zeno now put forth a new pro- 
posal for reunion, called The Henoticon (A. D. 482). This 
was meant to be a compromise. It avoided the terms 
used in the controversy and was non-committal on the 
Chalcedon creed, but failed to reunite the parties. It was, 
however, accepted by many Monophysites, creating a 
disruption in their ranks. Meanwhile the side of the 
Dyophysites in the East was strengthened by the formal 
rejection of the Henoticon at Rome by Felix III., an act 
which was followed by a temporary schism between the 
Eastern and Western branches of the Church, lasting until 
A. D. 519. At that date the patriarch John of Constan- 
tinople was induced by Justinian, the nephew of the 
reigning emperor, Justin, to condemn the Henotico?i, and 
communion between the two branches of the Church was 
restored by Hormisdas. 

The last stage of the Monophysite controversy was 
entered into by the accession to the imperial throne of Jus- 
tinian (A. D. 527-565). This emperor made it his life-task 
to re-establish the unity of the empire around the Creed 
of Chalcedon. He first issued a decree sanctioning the 
use of the expression " God who hast suffered for us," 
introduced into the liturgy, first at Antioch by Peter the 
Fuller, and later adopted at Constantinople. This was a 
concession to the Monophysites. He was next induced 
by the empress Theodora, who was a Monophysite at 
heart, to sum up in three so-called Chapters, the works 
of Theodore of Mopsuestia, the Letters of Theodoret 
against Cyril and the Letter of Ibas to Mares, and declare 



THEOLOGY AND CONTROVERSIES. 93 

them heretical. He asked the bishops to concur in this 
verdict. This was readily done by the Eastern bishops ; 
but those of the West would not agree. Vigilius of Rome 
had indeed secretly promised the empress to do so too, 
but broke his word on finding that he must meet a storm 
of opposition in the West. The emperor, however, 
brought him to Constantinople and compelled him to 
draw a document entitled Judication, in which the Three 
Chapters were condemned. Finally the emperor con- 
vened the Fifth Ecumenical Council at Con- 
Fifth Ecu- stantinople in A. D. cc*. Here the Three 

uicniCiil C-OUU- kj \j \j 

cii. Chapters were condemned as well as Origen and 

his views. Vigilius, still loath to go back to 
Rome as a partisan to this condemnation, issued his 
Constitutum, attempting to occupy middle ground by con- 
demning certain views in the Three Chapters but not the 
men. He was compelled, however, soon afterwards, to 
subscribe to the finding of the council. 

But though these proceedings restored peace and unity 
to the Church and empire, they did not destroy the 
Monophysite heresy. This was rather broken 
Jacobites. ^ into smaller factions by the appearance in it of 
varieties of shades of opinion. The main 
body of those who dwelt in Syria and Mesopotamia found 
a leader of energy in Jacob Baradaeus (A. D. 541-578), 
from whom they derive the name of Jacobites. They 
were persecuted and increasingly isolated in churches of 
their own in Abyssinia and Syria. 

While Alexandrian speculation and Antiochene study 
led to controversies above noticed, Athenian Neo-Platon- 
ism also found its way into the Christian world under the 
guise of writings on the Celestial Hierarchy, on Eccle- 
siastical Hierarchy, on the Divine Names and on Mystical 
Theology. These writings were put forth in the name of 
Dionysius the Areopagite, but their author evidently 
lived about A. D. 500. He taught that God is an in- 
scrutable Being who condescends to develop and mani- 
fest himself in a series of heavenly beings, ranged in 
ranks as a hierarchy. At the head of this hierarchy 
stands the Holy Trinity. The earthly hierarchy is sim- 



94 CHURCH HISTORY. 

ply patterned after its heavenly prototype, and through 
the ordinances of the Church, especially the sacraments 
(called by their author " mysteries " ), secures for men the 
opening of the way to God. 

Contemporaneously with the pseudo-Dionysius flour- 
ished the last of the writers in classic Latin. This was 
Severinus Boethius (A.D. 480-525). Being suspected of 
conspiracy, this philosophic thinker was seized by com- 
mand of the emperor Theodoric and cast into prison, and 
later put to death. During the period of his incarcera- 
tion he composed his treatise On the Consolation of Philo- 
sophy, a work conceived and executed in the spirit of 
ancient stoicism, but mistaken at the time as the result 
of profound Christian thought. 

While the East was occupied with the controversies 
relating to the Trinity and to the person of Christ, the 
West became the scene of a controversy on a 
Augustine. different subject, viz., the Christian doctrine of 
Grace and its relation to human freedom and 
ability. The thinker with whom the discussion of the ques- 
tion begins is also undoubtedly the greatest thinker of the 
Western branch of the Church. Augustine (Aurelius 
Augustinus, A. D. 354-430) was born in the North African 
town of Tagaste. His mother, Monica, was a devout 
Christian, who made the profoundest religious impression 
on his mind in early youth. He drifted away from these 
ideals, however, while fitting himself for the profession of 
rhetorician at Carthage. At the same time he acquired 
the desire for a deeper insight into truth through philos- 
ophy. To satisfy this desire, he joined himself for a time 
to the Manichaeans, being admitted into this sect to the 
degree of a hearer. But failing to find the satisfaction of 
his spiritual thirst here, he resorted to Neo-Platonism. 
Still failing of satisfaction, he turned to the Scriptures, 
already familiar to him to a certain extent, and was led to 
the inner experience of the power of God's grace, which 
thenceforth became to him the center of his thought and 
life. He was baptized in A. D. 387 by Ambrose of Milan, 
in whose parish he had meantime taken his abode. 
Shortly after this he returned to Africa and reluctantly 



THEOLOGY AND CONTROVERSIES. 95 

submitted to ordination as presbyter in the town of 
Hippo (A. D. 392). In A. D. 395 he was elected bishop 
of the place, and spent the rest of his life in labors in the 
service of the Church at this place. 

Augustine wrote a large number of works. As the 
most important among these may be named the Co7ifes- 

sions and the treatise De Civitate Dei. He 
His Work. busied himself with a wide variety of topics, 

and a complete list of his writings would show 
him to have been a man of versatile genius and broad 
scope, who took an interest in all the questions of his day. 
As a controversialist his support was sought after and 
his opposition dreaded. He engaged in the study and 
exposition of Scripture and wrote commentaries. He took 
up the defence of the Christian faith against the Mani- 
chaeans and wrote against the Pelagians and Donatists. 

His system of thought, as already intimated, begins 
with the question, " How can a sinful man take the steps 

necessary to his salvation ? " His answer was 
His Theology, clearly given, and may be summed up in the 

proposition that the divine grace must enter 
into the heart and enable him to do this. Augustine's 
Christian experience was supported at this point by his 
Platonic philosophy, which looked upon God as the real 
ground and agent of all things. Man was created in the 
image of God, with freedom, but in the fall of Adam he 
lost this freedom and became utterly unable to do good. 
The grace of God finds no assistance or effective resist- 
ance in human nature as it is after the fall. It enters into 
it and breaks it away from its attachment towards evil, 
frees it and gives a new impulse towards God. Only after 
this work of grace is done can man cooperate with the 
Spirit. But this saving grace is given, not to all individ- 
uals of the human race, but to a certain number whom 
God in his mercy has predestined thereto from eternity. 
This system met with well-defined opposition at the 
hands of Pelagius (A. D. 370 ?-440 ?), a British monk, who 

appears for the first time at the beginning of 
Peiagianism. the fifth century preaching moral reform. He 

was a man of calm temperament, without any 



96 CHURCH HISTORY. 

knowledge of the spiritual struggle with sin through which 
men like Augustine have to pass. He appears to have 
couched his opposition to Augustine's views in judicious 
terms, so that it offended no one at first. But he gained a 
disciple in Coelestius (fl. A.D. 415), a layman, who was less 
prudent. Coelestius began by denying the connection of 
Adam's sin with the condition of the race. He also de- 
nied the remission of sin in the baptism of infants. He 
was accused and condemned at Carthage of holding these 
and other views consistent with these, before a council 
held in A. D. 413. 

Meantime Pelagius himself went to Palestine, and, on 
being charged with holding these views, admitted before 
an assembly of presbyters that a sinless life was impossi- 
ble without the grace of God, and was acquitted (A. D. 415). 
He was again acquitted at a synod held at Diospolis later 
in the same year. But his enemies in Africa were not sat- 
isfied with these decisions. In two councils held at Car- 
thage and Mileve in A. D. 416 he was condemned. This 
action was then put before Pope Innocent of Rome for ap- 
proval, and was readily approved by him. The pope also 
excommunicated both Pelagius and Coelestius. Pelagius 
made another effort at securing vindication by address- 
ing a memorial to the pope. A larger council at Car- 
thage, however, in A. D. 418, condemned his system in 
clearer terms and without reference to what the pope 
might do. As the pope approved this decision also, no 
further complications arose. Pelagianism was finally 
condemned at the third ecumenical council at Ephesus in 
A. D. 431. 

The views of Pelagius were taken up and advocated with 
more energy than that exhibited by Pelagius and more 

prudence than that of Coelestius, by Julian of 
Julian of Eda- Eclanunig This bishop led the minority, who 

protested against the condemnation of Pelagius, 
and entered on an animated controversy with the great 
Augustine himself, charging him with Manichaean tenden- 
cies. But he was unable to restore the condemned views 
to favor in the Church. 

But while the doctrines of Pelagius and Coelestius were 
condemned their influence was not counteracted, nor were 



THEOLOGY AND CONTROVERSIES. 



97 



the views of Augustine accepted without qualification 

throughout the whole Church. An attempt 
gianism 6la ~ was ma de ln the south of Gaul (Massilia) 

to find a middle ground between the two 
systems. This has been called Semi-Pelagianism. The 
most prominent advocates of this position were John 
Cassian (fl. A. D. 428), Vincent of Lerins (fl. A. D. 428), 
and Faustus of Rhegium (fl. A. D. 494). According to 
the Semi-Pelagians there are two forces working together 
in the regeneration and salvation of man — the grace of 
God and the will of man. While man is affected by the 
sin of Adam he is not rendered utterly incapable of doing 
good. Hence he sometimes begins the work of salvation 
which the grace of God helps him to complete. At other 
times, however, the grace of God begins it and he cooper- 
ates. Cassian also especially rejected the doctrine of 
Augustine on predestination. Vincent of Lerins at- 
tempted to fortify these positions by setting up the uni- 
form tradition of the Church against the positions of 
individuals or special local divisions of the Church.* After 
Augustine's death his views were defended against the 
Semi-Pelagians by Prosper of Aquitaine (fl. A. D. 460), 
Caesarius of Aries (fl. A. D. 543) and Fulgentius of Ruspe 
(fl. A. D. 555). Finally, a generalized form of Augustin- 
ianism was adopted at the Synods of Orange (A. D. 
529), and Valence (A. D. 529). 

A heresy which grew into a sect arose in Spain, led by 
Priscillian, a wealthy layman of good family and education. 

Priscillian appears to have attempted a reforma- 
Prisciiiianism. tion f morals among the Christians of his 

region. As he organized separate conventicles, 
however, and taught opinions concerning Christ which 
were formed under the influence of Oriental speculation 
his followers have been regarded as a sect of heretics. 
He denied the charge of Manichaeism, but was condemned 
by a council of bishops at Saragossa (A. D. 380), and 
after various vicissitudes he was himself put to death 
(A. D. 385), being the first to suffer death for heresy. 

* Quod semper, ubique et ab omnibus creditum est serves as the norm 
of truth. 



CHAPTER X. 

NICENE AND POST-NICENE CHURCH INSTITUTIONS. 

The worship of the Church becomes more fixed and 
stately during this period, assuming a liturgical form. 

The distinction into the two parts, one in- 
Eucharistic tended for all without discrimination and called 

missa catechumenoruni, and the other for the 
communicants only called missa fideliurn, continues. The 
second of these is developed into a service of five parts. 
i. Prayer for different objects announced by the deacon 
and appropriated by the worshipers through the formula 
Kyrie eleison # (Lord, have mercy). 2. The act of offer- 
ing in which the worshipers offer their gifts, and these 
are collected by the deacon. After this the holy kiss is 
exchanged. 3. The act of consecration of the Eucharist 
with the responsive Sursum corda (Lift up your hearts), 
the words of institution and the Epiklesis (invocation) of 
the Holy Spirit on the elements. 4. The communion or 
participation of the elements with the singing of psalms. 
5. The dismission with prayer of thanksgiving, and the 
form : " Go in peace." 

With the exaltation of the ceremony in the Lord's 
Supper goes the growth of the idea of sacrifice. The Old 
Testament is interpreted as typifying Christ, and its 

sacrifices as foreshadowing the great sacrifice 
sacrifice 6 ° f °* Christ, but the Supper itself takes on the 

form of a repetition of Christ's sacrifice. Fur- 
thermore the idea of a change in the elements begins to 
dawn. The exact nature of this change is not, however, 
clearly set forth. The utterance of different leaders of 
thought differ very much. Thus, the efficacy of the 

* Kvpie kTiETjcoVj Lord, have mercy. 

98 



NICENE AND POST-NICENE CHURCH INSTITUTIONS. 



99 



Eucharist for a large number of ends is believed in. It is 
a means of protection and salvation from all dangers and 
evils, and a benefit to the souls of departed believers when 
offered as a sacrifice in their behalf. 

The observance of Sunday as the Christian holy day 
was furthered by the legislation of Constantine, setting it 
apart as the holiday of the civil service. In 
Sunday. general this day of the week takes the place of 

the Sabbath of the Old Testament, without, 
however, a formal action on the part of the Church or a 
sharp and perceptible transition. 

The feast of Easter was the first and most impor- 
tant of the circle of festival seasons in the year, though 
differences of opinion as to the exact date of 
Easter. ft still continued. But the Western mode of 

determining the date approved at the council 
of Nicaea prevailed towards the end of the period. A 
certain season of fasting preceded the observance of 
Easter ; but here also custom continued to vary as to 
the exact duration of the fast. The period was called 
Quadragesima (forty days), or approximately six weeks. 
But in some portions of the Church this was lengthened 
into eight weeks, and in others shortened by the omission 
of Sundays, or Saturdays and Sundays. The week pre- 
ceding Easter was observed with a minuter regard to its 
significance as commemorative of the Passion. 

Two festival days sprang up independently, one in the 
East and the other in the West, commemorative of the 
appearance of Christ on the earth. The East- 
ChnstmaL an ern * s probably the older, and, under the name 
of Epiphany, recalled to the mind the mani- 
festations of the divine presence in the baptism of Christ. 
This was observed on the 6th of January. The Western 
celebration took the birth of the Christ as its object, and 
developed into Christmas. The 25th of December was 
the day set apart as the probable birthday of Jesus Christ. 
These two days met with acceptance, not merely in the 
regions where they originated, but passed, the one from 
the East to the West and the other from the West to the 
East, until the whole Church recognized both. 



ioo CHURCH HISTORY. 

From a very early age Christians expressed a high de- 
gree of veneration for the apostles and other characters 
whose faith or holy lives were commended in 
The Worship the Scriptures. But it was during the age 

of Saints and , x . , . . .. °. ° 

Martyrs. under consideration that this veneration grew 

into adoration. Moreover, the circle of those 
whose saintly lives thus raised them above other men was 
enlarged by the introduction into it of martyrs. The 
Church at first adopted the custom of offering prayers for 
saints and martyrs. In the fifth century, however, this 
gave place to prayers to the martyrs and saints for inter- 
cession in behalf of those who offered these prayers. 
The saints thus prayed to were supposed to be in a 
peculiarly near relation to Christ and capable of present- 
ing their petitions at any time. The burying-places, too, 
of martyrs came to be regarded as especially sacred, and 
were chosen as suitable sites for church edifices. 

Naturally, to the person of the mother of Jesus was 
attributed at least the same sacredness as was as- 
cribed to the saints. The prevailing ascetic 
The Virgin j^ea that marriage was a less holy form of life 
than celibacy or virginity gave birth to the no- 
tion that Mary remained a virgin after the birth of Jesus. 
To reconcile this notion with the mention in the gospel 
accounts of persons called " the brethren of the Lord," 
two rival explanations were given of this expression. 
According to the first, proposed by Epiphanius, the 
" brethren of the Lord " were cousins, called " brethren " 
by a Hebrew idiom. The second was proposed by 
Jerome, and explained the phrase as meaning that these 
" brethren " were sons of Joseph before his marriage to 
Mary. The view of Helvidius that they were children 
of Mary was scornfully rejected. This enhanced the 
feeling of respect for Mary to a point beyond the venera- 
tion paid to the saints. She was spoken of and ad- 
dressed as "mother of God," and churches began to be 
dedicated to her, besides the other tokens of honor ascribed 
to her in common with the other saints and martyrs. 

Angels also w r ere by degrees included in the number of 
those to whom honor was to be given, although the 



NICENE AND POST-NICENE CHURCH INSTITUTIONS. 101 

growth of this custom was slower and met 
Angel Worship, with more opposition than that of the worship 

of saints. 
The honor accorded, to the saints led to the setting up 
of their images in the churches, doubtless at first for the 
sake of keeping their memories fresh in the minds of 
believers. But as the feeling of respect was transmuted 
into worship, these images themselves became the objects 
of worship — a tendency which was intensified by reports 
of miraculous healings effected through them. Already 
at the beginning of the fifth century Augustine deprecates 
this superstitious custom. 

The use of pictures in churches, even for the sake of 
adorning the bare walls, or otherwise embellishing the 

places of worship, was vigorously opposed by 
image Wor- ^ e aD i es t of the church leaders. Eusebius 

took away two pictures, alleged to be those of 
Jesus and Peter, in order that the heathen might not say 
that Christians had turned idolaters. Epiphanius tore 
away a curtain in a village church on w T hich was painted 
a representation of Christ or some saint. Yet the love of 

art, especially of painting, brought into the 
to^ma^ls 11 Church by the pagans, was so great that, in 

spite of the outbursts of opposition, it became 
the universal custom to adorn churches with the pictures 
of saints, apostles and martyrs, and even of Christ himself. 
The artistic feeling found vent also in the form and 
material of church edifices. The basilica was the com- 
monest of the types of church-building after 
Buildings. tne days °f Constantine. The ground-plan 

of this type is an oblong with a semi-circular 
annex at the end opposite the entrance. This ground- 
plan is divided into naves by parallel rows of columns 
running from the entrance towards the apse. This gen- 
eral type was varied almost indefinitely by the addition 
of a transept or changes in the mode of arranging the 
naves, aisles or roof. The external form of these build- 
ings was also made a study, the object being to give them 
an imposing and stately appearance. Some very elabo- 
rate and expensive church edifices came into existence 



102 CHURCH HISTORY. 

soon after the adoption of Christianity as the state religion 
by Constantine. 

The discipline of the Church was maintained, first, by 
the initiatory act of baptism, and secondly, by legislation. 

The first was designed to keep out the unfit ; 
Discipline. the second to preserve all admitted within 

from falling into a condition of unfitness and 
to purge the Church of the unworthy in case any such 
either entered or developed within her ranks. Baptism was 
preceded, as in the previous age, by a time of preparation 
(the catechumenate), varying in length according to the 
circumstances, the age and information of the candidate. 
Stated times in the year were set apart as seasons fit for 
the administration of the ordinance. In the East the 
feasts of Easter, and Epiphany, when Christ's baptism was 
commemorated, were thought the best seasons. In the 
West, Pentecost, called Whit or White Sunday (from the 
white robe worn by candidates) and Christmas were so 

designated. Baptism was supposed to have a 
Baptism. peculiar efficacy in washing away sin. Hence 

many postponed their baptism until the ap- 
proach of death, in order to pass into the future life as 
nearly sinless as possible. Even Christians by convic- 
tion thus delayed entrance into the Church formally. 
The ceremony attending the administration of the ordi- 
nance was mainly the same as that described as prevailing 
in the preceding period. The Apostles' Creed and the 
Nicene Creed, however, came to be used as baptismal 
confessions of faith, and the ceremony was made more 
elaborate and formal in some minuter details. 

The legislation of the Church was enlarged by the in- 
corporation of the canons of the ecumenical councils 

and some imperial edicts, together with the 
Law. deliverances of some of the provincial councils. 

This legislation was codified by John Scholas- 
ticus in A. D. 564. Naturally, such legislation had primary 
reference to the outward life. Spiritual and even moral 
delinquencies of the subtler kind could not be touched 
by external legislation. For such the Church attempted 
to provide in its penitential system, instructing its mem- 



NICENE AND POST-NICENE CHURCH INSTITUTIONS. 



103 



bers that it was far better for them to confess sins of 
this sort and endure the penalty than enter into the pres- 
ence of God with unforgiven trespass. A special officer 
was appointed to receive confessions and assign penalties. 
He was called the "penitential presbyter.'' But on 
account of abuses in this office it was soon abolished. 
The penalties affixed to sins, either open or secret, varied 
from fasting for a time to excommunication. The regu- 
lations governing the application of penalty grew into the 
penitential system more fully elaborated in the following 
period. 

Zeal for the purity of the Church gave rise to a disrup- 
tion in this period which, for a long time, harassed the 

Church in North Africa. This was the Donat- 
Donatists. ist schism. The Donatists at first stood for 

the principle that the Church of Christ should 
be preserved pure, and that no person guilty of sin serious 
enough for excommunication is fit to perform sacramental 
service. Later, when persecuted by the State, they added 
to their distinctive tenets the principle that the kingdom 
of God and the kingdom of this world had nothing in 
common. The occasion of the schism was the election 
and consecration of Caecilian as bishop of Carthage by 
Felix of Aptunga (A. D. 311). The charge was brought 
against Felix of having given up his Scriptures during 
the Diocletian persecution, and his action in consecrating 
Caecilian was declared invalid. Majorinus was elected 
as a rival bishop. In A. D. 313, Majorinus having died, 
Donatus was elected in his place, and the party opposed 
to Caecilian was named after him. Constantine, on his 
accession to the throne, tried, first by force and then by 
gentler measures, to pacify and win back the Donatists, 
but without success. Persecution only developed latent 
fanaticism ; and under the name of Circumcelliones they 
went about giving vent to their intense hatred of the 
Catholics. Throughout the fourth century the con- 
troversy raged with fury until the appearance of Augus- 
tine as bishop of Hippo in A. D. 395. Augustine, 
through his manifold efforts, succeeded in winning over 
many of them. At a conference in A.D. 411, before an 



104 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



imperial delegate as arbiter, he confuted their champions 
and the schism was outlawed. Soon after this the vandals 
invaded Africa and Donatism disappeared in the chaos 
that ensued. 

The desire for a strictly holy life led to the appearance 
of unusual forms of monasticism. Of these the most 

singular was that adopted by the Stylites 
Monasticism. (Pillar-monks). These lived on pillars, whence 

they exhorted men unto good works as they 
came to witness their strange mode of life. Symeon the 
Stylite (A. D. 390-460) attained to the greatest renown 
among them, having lived for thirty years on a pillar sixty 
feet high. The Bosci (Grazers) withdrew from civilization 
altogether and lived in uncultivated fields and deserts on 
roots and fruits, renouncing not only all the pleasures of 
the world but also its labors and employments. 

Monks who, in imitation of Antony, lived in the desert, 
especially in Egypt, formed communities. About the 

middle of the fourth century these communi- 
Ccenobites. ti es began to be organized. Thus arose the 

Coenobite monks. Organization was soon 
followed by the adoption of a rule or body of rules to 
govern the daily life. The first to formulate such a rule 
was Pachomius on the island Tabenna on the Nile (A. D. 
335). The society of monks was here placed under one 
leader or head called abbas. The members were obliged 
to spend their time in work as well as devotions. The 
proceeds of their labors were devoted to their daily needs 

and the surplus was given to the needy. Basil 
Monastic f Caesarea devised another rule intended to 

Rules. • i 1 • • ii r 

avoid by its prescriptions the dangers of 
monasticism already perceptible. 

In the West, also, monasticism took root, but in its 
growth it showed some features quite at variance from 

those of the Eastern form. One of the most 
Western Mon- prominent of these was the application to 

study. The monastery at Lerinum, an island 
on the West coast of Italy, assumed the character of a 
training school for the clergy of Southern Gaul. Another 
monastery near Marseilles proved to be an important 



NICENE AND POST-NICENE CHURCH INSTITUTIONS. 



105 



literary center and furnished the Church with the works 
of John Cassian. The highest form of monastic rule was 
reached for the period in that framed by Benedict of 
Nursia. Benedict founded the monastery of Monte Cas- 
sino in A. D. 529. The rule he provided for it was cal- 
culated to form strong character without encouraging 
eccentricity. The history of the monastery proved the 
wisdom of its founder. And the rule served as the basis 
of future developments in that direction. Another prom- 
inent monastery was founded by Cassiodorus (A. D. 540) 
and devoted to the training of copyists of good books and 
the preservation of the writings of the fathers. 

Monasticism found also some opponents, such as Jovinian 
and Chrysostom. But the tendencies of the age were 

too strong to be resisted or even diverted into 
jovinian. a sounder and more reasonable view. The 

criticisms of Jovinian were condemned by 
Siricius, the pope (A. D. 390), and answered by Ambrose 
of Milan. Jovinian himself was excommunicated for 
heresy. 



PART II. THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD. 

(A. D. 590-1517.) 



CHAPTER I. 

INTRODUCTORY : THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF 
THE MIDDLE AGES. 

The Middle Ages are conveniently so called from 
their chronological position between the ancient and 
modern times. The ancient civilization reach- 
End of the ec [ its culmination in the Roman Empire. 

Western 

Empire. With the possession of power and the con- 

sciousness of superiority Rome lost her motive 
for aggressiveness and vigilance. She became unable to 
guard and vitalize her vast possessions. Her aristocracy 
and governing class degenerated both morally and socially, 
and the hordes of invading barbarians found it an easy 
task to enter the once invincible city. In 476 the western 
branch of the empire, with its seat in Rome, was formally 
given up and Odoacer under the title of king assumed 
control. Thus ancient civilization came to an end in the 
very portion of Europe in which its existence could have 
affected the incoming barbarian races. No civilization 
was ready to take its place. Christianity had not yet had 
time to permeate the popular life and present a ripe system 
of institutions to these new races. Europe was plunged 
into darkness. Hence the name, Dark Ages, often applied 
to this period. 

107 



108 CHURCH HISTORY. 

The Church grew in power as the civil government 

waned before the advancing barbarians. But the Church 

itself was in many ways affected by the fall of 

The church the old civilization. Faith began to degener- 

and the • 

Dark Ages. ate into credulity. The spirit of reverence 
and teachableness was changed into abject, 
cringing servility. Spiritual religion declined and formalism 
increased. Thus the light held out by the Church, though 
not extinguished, was partially obscured. 

The limits of the middle ages may be determined for 
the political world by the fall of the old Roman Empire 
in 476 as a starting-point, and the fall of the 
Limits of the Byzantine Empire in the capture of Constan- 
tinople by the Turks in 1453 as its end. For 
the Church the events of greater importance are the ac- 
cession of Gregory I. (the Great) in 590 as the beginning, 
and the opening of the Protestant Reformation in 1517 
as its end. 

A glance at the map of Europe at the beginning of the 

seventh century shows that Thrace, Macedonia, Thessaly, 

Epirus, Illyricum, together with Asia Minor, 

Geographical now constitute the Roman Empire, whose 

Distribution of . . . _. \ 7 ■ -~. 

Races. capital is, however, not at Rome, but at By- 

zantium. The name Byzantine becomes a 
fitter one to designate it in its further course, not merely 
because of the change of capital already mentioned, but 
also because it develops a character and a civilization all 
its own. Western Europe is distributed among a large 
number of new peoples, chiefly Teutonic, but with an ad- 
mixture of Slavonic elements. Austria is occupied by 
the Gepides and the Lombards ; Northwestern Germany 
(to use its modern name), by the Saxons and Thuringians ; 
Switzerland by the Allemanni ; Italy by the Lombards 
and Ostrogoths ; Northwestern France by the Franks ; 
Southwestern France by the Burgundians ; Northwestern 
Spain by the Suevi, and the southwestern portion of the 
same country by the Visi-Goths. North Africa, once a 
flourishing and populous Christian region, appears under 
the control of the Vandals, and the North African church, 
with Carthage as its center, seems to be blotted out of 



THE GENERAL CHARACTER OF THE MIDDLE AGES. 



109 



existence. While the British islands are for the most 
part unaffected by the migrations of the tribes, the Angles 
appear in the southern portion of Britain, and the Keltic 
Britons are driven into the interior, and even to the ex- 
tremities farthest away from the source of invasion. 



CHAPTER II. 

THE CHURCH IN THE EAST. 

The monotony of the life of the Church in the Eastern 
Empire during the seventh and eighth centuries was broken 
by the appearance of the vigorous Arab relig- 
Sg e E?ements. ion of Mohammed and two controversies 
within the fold itself, one relating to the the- 
ological question of the will of Christ, and the other to 
the practical one of the worship of images. 

The land and people among whom Mohammedanism 
arose were fitted to produce precisely such a system. 
The immediate seat of the origin of this relig- 
Arabia. i on was the city of Mecca. Here was located 

the Kaaba (the cube), a heathen temple, made, 
according to the legend, by the angels in heaven, and let 
down to earth in the form of a tent, used as such by 
Adam, but given a more permanent brick form by Seth, 
and finally reconstructed, after the Deluge, by Abraham 
and Ishmael. This sacred place was guarded by the 
tribe of the Koreish. Within it was the sacred Black 
Stone, originally, it is said by Mohammedans, as white 
as milk, but turned black on account of the sin of man. 
It was also, according to the legend, a gift from heaven. 

The people of that portion of Arabia in which Mecca 
is situated are nomads, claiming descent from Abraham 
through Ishmael and the children of Keturah. 
£e?r Re H^ion n s d The religions prevalent among them just be- 
fore the advent of Mohammed were heathenism, 
Judaism and degenerate forms of Christianity, connected 
historically with the heresies rejected and condemned by 
the Church. Ebionites, Arians, Sabellians, Nestorians, 
no 



THE CHURCH IN THE EAST. Ill 

Eutychians and Monophysites, unable to live under per- 
secution within Christendom, withdrew in large numbers 
into these regions where they could be looked upon at 
least with the tolerance that grows out of indifference. 
All of these, however, reverenced Abraham as the father 
of the faithful, and in this fact there was a point of contact 
between them, and a ground of hope for their unification. 
Mohammed (more correctly Muhammad, Abu-Al-Kas- 
sim) was born in 570, being the only child of the widow 

Amina. His father died before his birth. 
hammed. 10 " Raised as a poor boy, he married, at the 

age of twenty-five, a rich widow, Khadijah, for 
whom he had worked previously as steward and agent. 
He was of a nervous temperament, and almost from his in- 
fancy had been subject to epilepsy. This, with his highly 
fertile imagination, made him the victim of hallucinations. 
At the age of forty he appeared in the character of a 
prophet. He had received, he said, a divine commission. 
For twenty years he maintained the claim that he received 
revelations while in an ecstatic condition. He began to 
teach his new faith among his relatives and fellow-towns- 
men. His first converts were his wife, Khadijah, his father- 
in-law, Abu-Bekr, his daughter, Fatima, and Ali and 
Zayd, both adopted sons. His attacks on the idolatry of 
Mecca drew down on him the displeasure of the Koreish, 
by whom he was persecuted and forced to flee to Medina 
in 622. This date marks a crisis in his life, and has there- 
fore become the era of Mohammedanism under the name of 
the Hedjira. His success was greater at Medina. Hav- 
ing gathered a body of followers here, he led them in a 
military campaign against Mecca and the Koreish. These 
he succeeded in conquering, and accordingly he entered 
Mecca in triumph in 630, putting an end to its idolatry 
and compelling it to receive him as the prophet. As he 
grew in power his character showed marked changes. 
His former tolerance and friendship towards Christianity 
disappeared. He preached and practiced the destruction 
of all opponents to his new religion. His former temper- 
ate and frugal habits also gave way to sensuality. He 
married eleven wives, but allowed only four to his disci- 



H2 CHURCH HISTORY. 

pies. While preparing for an aggressive campaign of 
conquest in Syria in behalf of his religion, he died of a 
violent fever in 632. 

Mohammedanism as a religious system has been summed 
up in six articles as follows. 1. God is one. He is all- 
w , ' , powerful and all-wise, and to be feared and 

Mohammedan r o t_ • u* • -l1_ i 

System. obeyed. Submission to him is the central 

principle of the system. Hence it is called 
Islam. 2. All events have been foreordained and come 
to pass according to an unchangeable order. 3. There 
are two classes of angels, the good and the bad. 4. God 
has given his revelation in the Scriptures. 5. He has 
sent prophets of whom Adam, Moses, Jesus and Moham- 
med are the greatest. Mohammed is the Paraclete 
promised by Jesus. 6. God will judge and reward or 
punish all men in a final judgment. 

The Koran, according to Mohammedanism, is the last 
and best revelation of God, and Mohammed his last and 
greatest prophet. The Koran is a somewhat 
The Koran. confused production, consisting of different 
utterances by the prophet, given at different 
times, each of which was no doubt affected more or less 
by its original setting, now lost. It is, however, full of 
lofty poetry and breathes a pure zeal for monotheism. 
Its materials, so far as they are not original with the 
prophet, are derived, first from the Scriptures of the Old 
and New Testaments, but at second hand through the 
medium of the imperfect knowledge of them possessed 
by Jewish merchants and heretical Christians. There 
are, however, also elements from rabbinical Jewish tra- 
dition and from apocryphal Christian books. The ethical 
teaching of the Koran has some good features in it, such 
as the inculcation of honesty, humility, courage and tem- 
perance. But these are counterbalanced by its permis- 
sion of polygamy and slavery, and the exhortation to use 
violence in the dissemination of the faith. Its practical 
religion may be put, with perhaps less regard to logic 
than convenience, in the four duties of prayer, almsgiving, 
fasting, and pilgrimages. 

During the lifetime of its founder, Mohammedanism 



THE CHURCH IN THE EAST. 



113 



did not spread beyond the bounds of Arabia. Upon his 

death, his father-in-law, Abu Bekr, and later 
SmmedanUm. 0mar > as caliphs (successors), carried it into 

Palestine. In 637 Jerusalem fell into the 
hands of its adherents. In 639 the whole of Syria had 
been subjugated. Two years later Egypt followed. Dur- 
ing the remainder of the seventh century, the Moham- 
medans took possession, one by one, of all the strongholds 
of North Africa. Thence, in 711, they crossed into 
Spain, and in a short campaign of two years (71 1-7 13), 
succeeded in founding the Moorish kingdom there. They 
then crossed the Pyrenees and threatened Gaul ; but 
were effectually stopped from further acquisition in 
Europe by Charles Martel at the battle of Tours (732). 
Meantime, in the East, they had added to their other con- 
quests, Persia and Asia Minor, and attacked Constanti- 
nople. But here, again, they were, for the time, prevented 
from further progress by the natural strength of the city 
and the use of Greek fire. 

At the fourth ecumenical council in Chalcedon (451), 
the question whether Christ was possessed of one nature 

or two, was decided in favor of the two-nature 
Controversy, view. This decision was left standing, though 

a concession seemed to be made to the other 
side, by the fifth ecumenical council held at Constanti- 
nople (553). But this solution of the question left a large 
body of citizens in the remoter regions of the empire dissat- 
isfied. The menace to unity and prosperity involved 
in this dissatisfaction was felt by the emperors. Acting 
upon the impulse of the desire to avert the danger threat- 
ened, the emperor Heraclius (610-640), procured from 
Cyrus, patriarch of Alexandria, the statement that " Christ 
as God and man in one person performs all his actions, 
both as God and man, by one theanthropic mode of oper- 
ation or will " (/ita deavdpurj hepyeia). This was approved 
by the patriarch of Constantinople, Sergius, and by the 
pope, Honorius I., of Rome. The Monophysites, too, 
accepted the new statement and returned in large num- 
bers to the Catholic fold. But Sophronius, an acute monk 
of Alexandria, saw through and denounced the formula 
8 



U4 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



as an unwarrantable concession to the Monophysite side. 
Becoming patriarch of Jerusalem later, he repeated his 
rejection of it. The emperor having apparently gained 
his point, now set himself to prevent the further dis- 
cussion of the question. He therefore issued an edict 
entitled Ecthesis — "Ex0e<rt$ rr^ -kIgtsws — Exposition of the 
faith (638), reaffirming belief in the two-nature view, and 
forbidding further debate. Meanwhile the new view 
called the Monothelite, from the assertion of one will in 
Christ, found many able opponents. Maximus, the Con- 
fessor, and the Roman Church pronounced against it. 
The emperor Constans II. (642-668) thought it necessary 
to renew the prohibition of the discussion, which he 
accordingly did in stronger terms than his predecessor in 
a document called the Typos (648). But the dyothelite 
(the two-will) party, now grown to formidable proportions 
and led by Martin I., the pope, broke out in open defiance, 
and in a council held at the Lateran in Rome, declared 
that Christ was endowed with two wills as well as two 
natures. The emperor had Martin seized and taken to 
Constantinople, where he was sentenced and exiled. 
Maximus was also seized and subjected to punishment 
and indignity. The controversy was carried into the fol- 
lowing reign. Constantine Pogonatus (668-685) called 
an ecumenical council to settle it, for only in this way, it 
appeared, could peace be restored. 

The council met in 680 at Constantinople. The em- 
peror presided, and a letter of Agatho, the pope who had 
succeeded Martin, outlined the solution of the 
fca/couneU? 11 " question, giving almost the very words of the 
form adopted by the council. The one-will 
theory was condemned. All Monothelites past and pres- 
ent were anathematized. The patriarch of Constanti- 
nople renounced his error. His colleague of Alexandria 
was deposed. 

In 692 another council was called by the emperor Jus- 
tinian II. (684-695 and 705-7 e 1 ), which confirmed the 
condemnation of the Monothelite heresy. 
Councff nisext This council, however, was convened as a sup- 
plement to the sixth and fifth ecumenical coun- 



THE CHURCH IN THE EAST. 



"5 



cils and is called for this reason Quinlsext. It collected 
one hundred and two canons bearing on ecclesiastical law 
and clerical life, and issued them as the code of the 
Church. On account of the insufficient recognition of 
the authority of Rome, the popes never assented to this 
codification, and the code has remained valid in the East 
only. 

The Monothelites, after an unsuccessful effort to reopen 
the question through the emperor Philippicus Bardanes 

(7 1 1-7 13), withdrew into Mohammedan terri- 
Subsequent tory, elected John Maro patriarch of Antioch 
MonotL?ites. e (hence called Maronites), and continued to 

the twelfth century, then united, without 
changing their views, with the Roman Church. 

The growth of image-worship became a reproach to the 
Church in the East, as well as a hindrance to the progress 

of the gospel among the Mohammedans. 
image-worship The emperor Leo the Isaurian (716-741), 

undertook to remove this cause of offence. 
In 726 he issued an edict ordering the putting up of the 
images in the churches high above the reach of the wor- 
shipers' touch, and forbidding prostration and kneeling 
before them. This step was followed in 730 by the re- 
moval altogether of the images out of the churches, and 
the whitewashing of the walls. Germanus, the patriarch 
of Constantinople, opposed these measures, and a party 
of Iconolaters (Image-worshipers) was formed around 
him to oppose the Iconoclastic party led by the emperor. 
The emperor displaced the patriarch, but an abler cham- 
pion of image-worship rose up in the person of John of 
Damascus, living within Mohammedan territory, and 
therefore beyond the jurisdiction of the emperor. A 
council called by the next emperor, Constantine Coprony- 
mus (742-775), in 754, declared against image-worship. 
Laws were made and enforced to this end ; but the monks 
remained unflinching worshipers of the images. At the 
death of Leo Khazarus (775-780), the government 
devolved upon his widow, Irene, during the minority of 
her son. She was an ardent advocate of image-worship. 
Under her administration a rapid change came about. 



n6 CHURCH HISTORY. 

A council was convened (the seventh ecumenical) in 787, 
at Nicaea. The first act of this council was to declare 
the council of 754 illegal, and its decrees null and void. 
It then formally sanctioned image- worship and anathema- 
tized all opponents and dissenters. Irene put herself into 
permanent possession of the throne (770-802), by having 
her son's eyes put out and himself imprisoned in a mon- 
astery. 

But the contest was not over with this first triumph of 
image-worship. A wave of reaction swept over the Church 
towards the last part of the reign of Irene ; 
Controversy, it gathered force for several years until the em- 
peror Leo the Armenian (813-820) took ad- 
vantage of it and again tried to suppress iconolatry. A 
new champion, however, now appeared of image-worship 
in the person of Theodore of the Studium, a zealous 
monk. The controversy raged with renewed vigor. The 
final stage in the struggle was ushered in by the edict of 
Theophilus (829-842), in which all worship of images in 
public or private was prohibited. But with his death his 
widow, Theodora, restored the forbidden practice. The 
u resident synod " of Constantinople (842) reaffirmed the 
decisions of the seventh ecumenical council and estab- 
lished the Feast of Orthodoxy, in commemoration of the 
complete triumph of image-worship. 

In the West the iconoclastic controversy was viewed 
from different standpoints. The Roman Church remained 
steadfast through it all in its adherence to 
Seventh Ecu- the practice of image- worship. Quite dif- 
The l westem ferent, however, was the attitude of the Church 
Sage h worship. ^ n Gaul and its patron, the emperor Charle- 
magne. When Charlemagne received the 
decrees of the seventh ecumenical council he caused to 
be written the Caroline Books, in which the decisions of 
the council are repudiated. Images, it is further asserted, 
could be set up in churches, but they should in no case 
be worshiped. This attitude was maintained by the 
Frankish synod of Frankfort on the Main (794), and later 
by that of Paris. 

About the middle of the seventh century Manichaeism 



THE CHURCH IN THE EAST. 



ti 7 



in a modified form made its appearance in a Syrian vil- 
lage, Mananalis, near Samosata. The agitator 
Pauiidans. of the movement was a certain Constantine, 
who was attracted by the epistles of the 
apostle Paul and attempted to make a new combination 
of Manichaeism and the distinctive views of the apostle. 
He assumed for his system the name of Paul, and for 
himself that of Sylvanus ; his followers also took the names 
of Paul's other companions. Under the name of Paul- 
icians they were persecuted locally and took refuge 
among the Saracens, and later in Thrace and Bulgaria. 
Here they contrived to elude their persecutors and sur- 
vived through the Middle Ages. They were ascetics in 
practice ; but unlike other ascetic sects, they did not 
oppose marriage. They accepted most of Paul's epistles 
as their canon, including an epistle to the Laodiceans. 
They also received the four Gospels, 



CHAPTER IIL 

THE CHURCH IN THE WEST AND THE FRANK 
KINGDOM. 

Gregory I. (590-604), whose accession to the papacy 
opens this period, was born in 540, being descended of 
rich and noble ancestors. His early educa- 
Gregory i. tion was intended to prepare him for the civil 
service. He entered this service, and in 574 
was appointed prefect, but dissatisfied with (he life he led, 
he turned to the monastic habit, devoting his wealth to the 
foundation of a monastery. In 579, he was appointed 
representative of the see of Rome (apocrisiarius), at the 
imperial court in Constantinople. This post he occupied 
until 585 when he returned to Rome and was made abbot 
of his monastery. And from this position he was finally 
elevated to the papacy, being the first monk to receive 
papal dignity. In the papal throne his influence was 
wholesome. He proved himself an implacable enemy to 
all forms of abuse. A rigid ascetic himself, he encour- 
aged strict morals and punished simony. In a large 
number of writings which he composed, not as literature, 
but for practical ends in the administration of his office, 
he proved himself a skilled ecclesiastic, though an indif- 
ferent theologian, and vastly strengthened the papal idea. 
His chief contribution to the growth of this idea was a 
negative one outwardly, and consists in his successful con- 
flict with the patriarch of Constantinople as to 

to°u^veS as the use of the title of " universa l bishop." 
BishopHc. John the Faster, patriarch of Constantinople, 
had assumed this title in his correspond- 
118 



THE CHURCH IN THE WEST AND THE FRANK KINGDOM. n 9 

ence with other prelates. Without setting up a counter- 
claim to the title in behalf of Rome, Gregory used all the skill 
he had acquired as an ecclesiastical statesman to refute the 
claim of the Greek patriarch and cause its revocation. 
For himself he distinctly disclaimed any such name and 
called himself " the servant of the servants of the Lord." 
But he obtained and wielded a mighty influence and gave 
the papacy a stronger impulse by his negative course than 
he could have done by loud assertions of its supremacy. 
The successors of Gregory on the papal throne for the 
next century barely maintained the high place of the posi- 
tion bequeathed them by their great prede- 
Successors of cessor. One of the nearest of these boldly 
assumed the title of " universal bishop " so 
vigorously repudiated and warred upon by Gregory. 
Boniface III. (608-615) turned the Pantheon into a church 
" of the Virgin and all the Martyrs." Honorius I. (625— 
638) was condemned as a Monothelite, and Martin 1. 
(649-655) suffered persecution as aDyothelite. Gregory 
II. (715-741) stood firmly for image-worship against 
the emperor Leo the Isaurian. With him also begins the 
effort of the Roman Church to build up a Christian state 
in the West that should serve at once as the bulwark of 
the Christian religion against attacks from without, and 
the support of the see of Rome in its increasing alienation 
from the Byzantine court. The immediate occasion for 
the desire for such a state was the attitude of the Lom- 
bards in Italy. This rude race had taken possession of 
the best portions of what once belonged to Rome, and 
were harassing under their leader, Luitprand, even the 
estates of the Church. Gregory appealed to the Franks 
for aid against them. 

Among the Franks meanwhile the descendants of Clovis 
and heirs to his throne had fallen into effeminate ways. 
They had been supplanted in the administra- 
The Frank r i on f affairs by their Mayors of the Palace. 
This office, once in the gift of the king, became 
hereditary with Pepin of Landen (639). Pepin thus be- 
came the founder of a dynasty of Mayors of the Palace. 
He was succeeded in the office by his son Grimoald and 



120 CHURCH HISTORY. 

afterwards by Pepin of Heristal and the renowned 
Charles Martel (the Hammer, 714-741). Charles Martel,in 
opposing successfully the invasion of the Mohammedans 
into Gaul, had already practically assumed the cham- 
pionship of Christendom against its enemies. To him, 
Gregory III. (731-741) addressed himself in the time of 

the Church's need. The negotiations begun 
Charles Martel. a t this time, looking to an alliance between the 

Western Church and the Franks were, how- 
ever, interrupted by the death during the same year of 
both Gregory III. and Charles Martel. 

The successor of Charles Martel in the office of Mayor 
of the Palace, Pepin the Short (741-768), formally set 

aside the Merovingian dynasty and assumed 
Short the ^ e name °f king as ne na d already exercised 

the functions of one previously. Zacharias 
(741-752), who followed Gregory III. in the papacy, did 
not at first realize the need of resuming the negotiations for 
an alliance with the Franks. He had either outwitted or 
intimidated Luitprand, the Lombard, and stopped his 
troublesome operations in Italy, without the aid of secular 
power. But Luitprand's successor, Aistulph, renewed the 
annoying attitude towards the Church abandoned for a 
time by his predecessor. Zacharias was convinced that 
the alliance with the Franks was the best way out of the 
troubles. He appealed to Pepin the Short and sanctioned 
his assumption of the title of king. It was during his 
successor's pontificate, however, that Pepin crossed the 
Alps, overcame the Lombards, and restored to the Church 
the Exarchate of Ravenna. As this had been controlled 
before its subjugation to the Lombards by the Byzantine 
government as a semi-ecclesiastical possession, its bestowal 
on the Church of Rome formed the beginning of a tem- 
poral power for the papacy. 

When Pepin the Short died, in 768, his kingdom was 
divided between his two sons, Carloman and Charles (the 

great Charlemagne, 768-814) ; the former took 
Charlemagne, the southern division, the latter the northern. 

In 771, Carloman died and Charles seized his 
kingdom, ignoring the rights of the infant sons of his 



THE CHURCH IN THE WEST AND THE FRANK KINGDOM. I2 i 

brother. He at the same time began a series of campaigns 
against the Saxons, Lombards, Bavarians, Avars (or 
Huns), Danes, Slavs and Greeks. By dint of great cour- 
age, indomitable energy and military skill, he succeeded 
in extending his domains far beyond the limits of his 
father's kingdom. In fact he founded an empire in Europe 
excelled in former times only by that of Rome. 

Besides his military achievements, Charlemagne also 
patronized letters, founded a school, caused a grammar of 
the German language to be written, and a collection of the 
old war songs to be made, dictated the Caroline Books, 
and finally ordered the revision of the Latin version of 
the Bible. In all these enterprises he called to his aid 
the ablest of the divines, poets and scholars of his age. 
He was in general a man of keen intellect and ardent 
piety. And yet with all his virtues he was not free from 
grave faults. But these were the result of his surroundings 
and inheritance. 

Charlemagne encouraged and strengthened the alliance 

between the papacy and the Frank power. He made 

several visits to Rome, in one of which he was 

The Holy declared by the pope Rex Francorutn et 

Roman Em- „ . . J r c ... 

pire. jfatriaus Koniaiiorum. In 799 a not in that 

city again compelled his interference. He 
lingered for some time, and on Christmas, 800, he was, ap- 
parently without premeditation, crowned by Pope Leo 
III. (795-816) Emperor of the Romans. This was the 
beginning of the Holy Roman Empire. He died in 814. 



CHAPTER IV. 

CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE TEUTONS. 

Gregory the Great was noted, not merely for his ad- 
ministrative ability, but also for his missionary zeal. 
With him begins an era of organized mis- 
Ser r ofMe ar " s i° nar y effort in the north and west of Europe, 
dieval Missions. The general course of evangelizing activity 
in the Middle Ages is, however, distinguished 
from that of the ancient period by some striking features. 
It aims at the conversion of nations in collective bodies, 
and not at that of simple individuals. Hence political 
movements play an important part in helping or hinder- 
ing the progress of the gospel. In the second place, con- 
version means not simple faith in Jesus Christ as a Re- 
deemer, but the acceptance of a system of doctrine, tradi- 
tion, government, worship and discipline. And thirdly, 
Christianization is also civilization. The ancient Church 
saw itself compelled to fight the form of civilization it 
found ; the medieval Church introduced civilization wher- 
ever it carried the gospel. 

It has been remarked already that the Keltic Church, 
planted in Britain during the ancient period, was driven 
into the interior by the Anglo-Saxons. The 
Augustine and island, seemed to be plunged back into 
Saxin 1 ? heathenism. At this juncture, Gregory be- 
came interested in the Anglo-Saxons and sent, 
in 596, Augustine with Laurentius and forty other monks 
to preach Christianity to them. Ethelbert, king of Kent, 
was already acquainted with the Christian religion through 
his wife Bertha, a Frankish princess. He received the 
122 



CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE TEUTONS. 



123 



missionaries with favor and accepted the new faith, being 
baptized in 597. He used no compulsion, but recommended 
Christianity to his people, and, a large number following 
his example, a church was organized and Augustine was 
made the archbishop of Canterbury. After a short period 
of reaction under the son and successor of Ethelbert, who 
returned to paganism, the new church entered upon a 
peaceful career of progress, and soon replaced heathenism 
throughout the whole country. 

The relation of this new Anglo-Saxon Church to the 

old Keltic British Church now absorbed the attention of 

its leaders. The Anglo-Saxon clergy claimed 

The Keltic the authority and jurisdiction of Rome over 

Churches 

the British Church. But the British leaders 
would not readily give up their liberties, nor abandon 
their distinctive practices as to tonsure and the observance 
of Easter. The two branches of the Church on the island 
were thus kept apart until later political reasons led to 
the absorption of the Keltic by the English branch. The 
same struggle for independence against the encroachments 
of Roman clergy took place in Scotland and Ireland, with 
the same result of final absorption by the church planted 
by Roman missionaries. 

The English Church of this period produced several 
men of note and influence. One of the early successors 
of Augustine in the archbishopric of Canter- 
Christian Lit- bury, Theodore (668-690), was distinguished 
England? a s a student of the Greek fathers. He per- 

fected the internal organization of the English 
Church, and composed a "penitential" (book) which was 
used long afterwards. Caedmon (d. 680) rendered some 
of the books of the Bible into Anglo-Saxon. Bede 
(674-735), called the Venerable, a presbyter and a monk, 
in Northumberland, furthered the cause of education by 
framing a number of text-books for learners ; but his 
most important work is the Ecclesiastical History of 
England {Historia Ecclesiastica Gentis Angloruni) which 
has remained a veritable mine of information for the 
early history of English Christianity. Finally Alcuin 
(735-804), began in York as the head of a monastic 



124 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



school, but removed to the court of Charlemagne and 
assisted that monarch in his educational enterprises. 

Of the Germanic tribes, the Franks had already been 
Christianized. But they were not an aggressive mission- 
ary people. The Irish Church, on the other 
Coiumbanus. hand, was conspicuous for the zeal it showed 
in carrying the gospel to the yet heathen 
centers of Europe. It was from Ireland that the first 
missionaries to the Germans went forth. The earliest 
band of Irish monks that entered this field was led by Coi- 
umbanus (540-615). But the strictness of the morality 
he preached rendered him obnoxious to the Burgundian 
court, within whose jurisdiction he started his labors. 
He removed accordingly into Switzerland, fixing his 
headquarters first at Zurich and then at Bregenz. But 
he was compelled to withdraw himself from here also, 
and died in Italy. His follower Gallus founded the mon- 
astery bearing his name (St. Gall). 

Another band of Irish monks was led by the English- 
man Willibrord (657-741). This band entered Friesland. 
Its success was slow and the results insignifi- 
wiinbrord. cant. But the establishment of an arch- 
bishopric in Utrecht with Willibrord as its 
occupant, owning the allegiance of Rome, was deemed 
satisfactory. 

But the true apostle of Germany was Winfrid (680- 
755), better known as Bonifacius. A native of Devon- 
shire, England, he gave up a promising career 
Boniface. in the Church in his native land in order to 

serve Christ as a missionary to the Germans. 
He first joined himself to Willibrord in Friesland, but as 
the work here was interrupted by war, he betook himself 
to Rome to receive special instruction in the Roman ritual 
and ecclesiastical law and a commission from the pope. 
With this commission he returned to Germany and 
preached for a few years in Thuringia. He was sum- 
moned to Rome and appointed " regionary " bishop of 
Germany. He now set himself to the task of first reduc- 
ing the existing German churches to the Roman form, as 
they differed in their practices from Rome, and then of 



CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE TEUTONS. 



125 



overthrowing idolatry altogether. Both of these objects 
he attained in the course of his ministry of thirty years. 
Passing into Friesland, he engaged in converting the 
heathen to Christianity here also, when a mob fell upon 
him and his followers and put them to death. 



CHAPTER V. 

CHRISTIAN THOUGHT AND LIFE IN THE WEST. 

While Rome continued to be the main center and 
source of influence for the Western Church, a new center 

was formed at the court of the emperor 
The Court of Charlemagne. Here Alcuin was invited to 

superintend a system of schools in which the 
liberal arts as understood in the Middle Ages were taught. 
The course of instruction included seven studies, divided 
into two groups, called respectively the trivium and the 
quadrivium. The trivium comprised grammar, logic and 
rhetoric, while the quadrivium consisted of music, arith- 
metic, geometry and astronomy. The schools designed 
to teach these branches were in connection with the 
cloisters. But aside from these schools and in a manner 
standing above them for more advanced study, Charle- 
magne established the Court School {Schola Palatiud). 
Associated with Alcuin in these educational enterprises, 
were Paulus Diaconus (720-800), and Eginhard the biog- 
rapher of Charlemagne, who also succeeded Alcuin. 

In Spain, Isidore of Seville (560-636), promoted Chris- 
tian learning. He was well versed in Latin, Greek and 

Hebrew, and in profane as well as ecclesias- 
isidore of tical literature. On becoming archbishop of 

Seville, he established a school for the educa- 
tion of the Spanish clergy. His works cover a wide 
range of subjects and are the result of careful study. He 
not only enlightened his own age in matters pertaining 
to religion, but left in his historical works valuable in- 
formation for later ages. 

The Western Church was agitated at the end of the 
126 



CHRISTIAN THOUGHT AND LIFE IN THE WEST. 127 

eighth century by the appearance in it of a form of thought 
called Adoptionism. The kernel of this 
Adoptionism. heresy was the teaching that Christ, as to his 
divine nature, was the true Son of God, but 
only the adopted son as to his human nature. This 
doctrine was first taught in Spain by Elipandus, arch- 
bishop of Toledo. It was approved and elaborated 
further by Felix of Urgel in Catalonia. When made 
known at large, it was recognized as a modified form of 
Nestorianism. It never spread beyond the bounds of 
Gaul and Spain. Felix was summoned before a council 
which met at Ratisbon in 792. His teaching was pro- 
nounced a revival of the Nestorian heresy, and he was 
induced to recant. But on returning to Spain, in spite of 
his oath before the council, he reaffirmed his Adoptionist 
views. 

At the request of Charlemagne, Alcuin addressed a 

letter to Felix and another to the clergy of Spain and 

Gaul, refuting the new doctrine. The Adop- 

Adoptionism tionists of Spain asked that a new council 

Condemned. . . \ . . . . 

might be called to rehear their case. Ihis 
was accordingly done, and their view was again rejected 
at Frankfort-on-the-Main in 794. But even thus the 
discussion did not close. Felix and Alcuin again stated 
their arguments. Finally, Leidrad, archbishop of Lyons, 
persuaded Felix to appear before another council at Aix, in 
799. Here Felix professed himself fully convinced 
of his error, and agreed to spend the remainder of his life 
under the supervision of Leidrad. But in a writing dis- 
covered after his death, even at this period of his life 
spent under Leidrad's care, he seems to have still cher- 
ished Adoptionist views. Elipandus, living among Mo- 
hammedans, and thus beyond the jurisdiction of Charle- 
magne, remained constant in his adherence to Adoptionism. 
The union of the Western Church with the Frank 
power, though outwardly a benefit to the Church, had also 

its corrupting influence. The Franks were 
Co^u Si t a ion Cal imperfectly converted, and carried their crude 

and corrupt ideas of government into the 
administration of ecclesiastical affairs. The first point 



i 2 8 CHURCH HISTORY. 

at which the Church was unfavorably affected was the 
episcopacy. The rulers assumed control of vacant 
bishoprics and at first nominated, but afterwards appointed, 
the new bishops. As they were accustomed to expect 
pecuniary compensation for the bestowment of other 
secular offices, they soon began to exact money for eccle- 
siastical offices also. Thus the election of bishops by 
the churches became obsolete, and vacant sees were sim- 
ply sold by the princes. Gregory I. and Boniface pro- 
tested against this abuse, but without avail. The evil 
was partially checked by Charlemagne through special 
legislation. Charlemagne's law directed that bishops 
should be elected by the churches, but that the approval 
of the secular power should be necessary for the com- 
pletion of the transaction. He was himself careful to 
nominate and approve only capable persons. But the 
reform was only temporary. 

Another point at which the influence of the State was 
felt in the Church was ecclesiastical legislation. Such 
legislation was at first in the hands of local 
Legislation councils under the presidency of a bishop. 
Hands of the As the State assumed the patronage of the 
Civil Govern- Church the consent of the king, and later of 
the emperor, was deemed necessary to legalize 
the synods. From this state of things it was but a step 
to the assumption of the legislative power in the Church 
by the imperial general assembly. Synods then became 
unnecessary and were discontinued. 

In Spain, the secular legislative body — the diet of the 
realm — was reorganized so as to give representation to 
the clergy. In this form, the diet devoted its 
s a aln° f ^ rst tnree days to ecclesiastical legislation, 

the clergy alone taking part, and the remainder 
of the session to general legislation, the whole diet par- 
ticipating. 

Charlemagne divided the general assembly of his realm 
into two sections — the secular and the spiritual. The 
former consisted of laymen, the latter of 
OfCharie- bishops and abbots. Church laws were dis- 
cussed and enacted by the latter, but must 



CHRISTIAN THOUGHT AND LIFE IN THE WEST. 



129 



receive the sanction of the secular prince and be pub- 
lished by his authority in order to have full validity. 

The tendency of the laws enacted was to distinguish 
the Church as a privileged institution. The clergy were 
exempted from military service, at first at 
Legislation as their own option, but later by a prohibitive 
law. This measure deterred many of the 
higher ranks from entering the clergy, as they would not 
bind themselves to any vows which should hinder their 
entering a military career when opportunity offered. The 
consequence was that the clergy was replenished from 
the bond class, and this class was greatly exalted thereby. 
The civil authority was further charged with the task 
of enforcing ecclesiastical discipline. Punishment was 
inflicted upon conviction of the offender, in 
DLsdpilra! the form of fine, fasting, pilgrimage, scourg- 
ing or imprisonment. Private sins, instead of 
being confessed as heretofore in public, were taken to a 
priest and by him forgiven upon the performance of 
penance, that is good works prescribed by the priest. 

To guide the clergy in taking confessions and meting 
out penalties, penitential books were composed. These 
were codifications of the canons of synods 
Penitential anc [ opinions of fathers regarding the kind 
and amount of penalty due each form of sin. 
These books were produced locally, and are known as 
the British, Irish, Frankish, Spanish, and Roman Peni- 
tentials. Theodore of Canterbury (690), Bede (735), 
Egbert (767), Columbanus (615), and others prepared 
such books. 

The worship of the Church remained as in the previous 
age. But as the Western clergy needed guidance in 
preaching, Books of Homilies were com- 
Homiiiaria. posed for their use {Uomzliaria). Charle- 
magne required the regular practice of preach- 
ing, not only of all bishops, but also of all priests, who 
were to possess copies of Homiliaria and use them. At 
his request, Paulus Diaconus culled out of the works of 
the ancient fathers their best sermons and put them in a 
Homiliarium. 



i 3 o CHURCH HISTORY. 

The musical part of the service was enriched by the 
addition of the organ about the middle of the eighth 

century. Gregory I. introduced a new style 
Church Music, of chant to replace the older style called the 

Ambrosian, which had become too much 
secularized. The Gregorian style was deemed more 
stately and slow in its movement, and therefore more 
solemn and appropriate for sacred purposes. Gregory 
also composed hymns for use in the service. Hymn- 
writing was cultivated by others both in the West and in 
the East. Among the most eminent of these may be 
named Gregory's contemporary, Fortunatus, in the West, 
and Cosmas of Jerusalem (695 ?~76o), and John of Da- 
mascus (705 ?~78o) in the East. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE PAPACY AND THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. 
(A. D. 800-1073.) 

The successors of Charlemagne were not equal to the 
task of perpetuating the strong government established by 

him. His influence was permanent indeed, 
Decline of the DU t his dynasty proved to be one of the shortest- 
Dynasty! lived in history. His son, Louis the Pious, 

(814-840), inherited his religious zeal, but 
not his military and political ability. He was a more 
suitable candidate for the cloister than for the throne. 
His three sons, Lothair, Louis and Charles rose up in re- 
bellion against him and succeeded in wresting the scep- 
ter from his hands. But unable to agree among them- 
selves, two of them combined against the third and re- 
stored the rule to their father. Three years after his 
death the empire was divided among them. Lothair took 
Italy, Louis, Germany, and Charles (the Bald) France. 
Thenceforth the territories governed by them remained 
separate. Now one and now another claimed and wielded 
imperial authority, but the empire was little more than an 
empty name for a century and a quarter. 

Meantime the papacy itself had fallen into the hands of 
mediocre men after the death of Leo III. The first four 

t popes who followed Leo, occupying the see 

^mporary De- f rom g^ to g 2 ^ did nothing to further 
Papacy, its interests. Gregory IV. (827-844) took 

an active hand in the troubles between 
Louis the Pious and his sons, but not with marked re- 
sults. 
It was probably during the second quarter of the ninth 



132 



CHURCH HISTORY 



century that the so-called Isidorian Decretals were 
produced. In this collection or book the 
The Pseudo- pope's supremacy in the Church, his inde- 
cretais. pendence of the State, and the inviolability 

and dignity of the clergy were set forth in 
clear and vigorous terms. The form in which these 
principles are put is that of decretals or decisions of ec- 
clesiastical questions by the bishops of Rome in answer 
to questions put to them. The collection claims to con- 
tain such decretals from the time of the apostles onwards. 
There had been other books of decretals put forth before, 
but none had claimed to contain anything older than the 
date of Siricius (A. D. 384-398.) This collection was 
published under the name of Isidore of Seville ; but it was 
made long after the days of that eminent man, and is 
spurious, as very clearly appears from the following con- 
siderations : (1) The language of the letters purporting to 
be written by the earliest Roman bishops is the corrupt 
and mixed Frankish Latin of the eighth and ninth cent- 
uries. (2) The historical conditions assumed in the de- 
cretals are those of France in the Middle Ages and not 
those of Rome before the invasion of the barbarians. (3) 
The version of the Scriptures quoted is that of the Vul- 
gate as revised by order of Charlemagne. (4) The an- 
achronism is committed of representing Victor, bishop of 
Rome, about A. D. 200, as writing on the Easter question 
to Theophilus of Alexandria, who flourished about A. D. 
400. The real author of these decretals is unknown. Sus- 
picion attaches to Benedict Levita of Mayence, but no 
positive evidence can be produced for the settlement of 
the question. The collection was first used about the 
middle of the ninth century. 

Gregory IV. was succeeded in the papacy by 

Sergius II. (844-847), he by Leo IV. (847-855), he 

by Benedict III. (855-858). Between Leo 

Po e e F jSnna IV * anc * ^ ene ^ ot H*- a tradition of late 
date assigns the alleged female pope, Joanna. 
She was supposed to be a German woman, who, disguised 
as a man, went to Athens, pursued studies and acquired 
great reputation for learning, then removing to Rome she 



THE PAPACY AND THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. 



133 



was promoted from stage to stage in the clergy until she 
reached the papal throne. This story is no doubt a fabri- 
cation. The earliest witnesses to its truth come from 
the eleventh century. No break occurs in the papal line 
to admit of such person in it. The Greek hierarchy carried 
on a bitter controversy with Rome in the ninth and tenth 
centuries, in which they cited all the objections they could 
gather together against the papacy. They would, no 
doubt, have cited this also, had it been true and known 
to them. A sufficient motive for the fabrication of the 
story can be found in the corrupt condition of the papacy 
soon after this time. 

In the person of Nicholas I. (858-867), the papacy 
found one of its strongest representatives and promoters. 
This pontiff availed himself of the pseudo- 
Nicholas 1. Isidorian Decretals and pushed the claims of 
his office in every direction. Lothair II. had 
set aside his lawful wife, Teutberga, and married Wald- 
rade. The pope, in spite of the decisions of the arch- 
bishops of Cologne and Treves, sanctioning the course of 
the king, compelled him to take back his lawful wife. The 
archbishop of Cologne, for his part in this affair, was dis- 
ciplined,and submitted to the pope. Nicholas also claimed 
and enforced the right of interference in the affairs of the 
provincial churches. When Rothad, bishop of Soissons, 
was deposed by Hincmar, archbishop of Rheims, he ap- 
pealed to the pope from the action of his archbishop. 
Hincmar denied the right of the pope to entertain the ap- 
peal, but Nicholas obliged him to reinstate Rothad and 
asserted his authority. Nicholas also entered into contro- 
versy with the Eastern Church. Ignatius, the patriarch of 
Constantinople, was deposed for rebuking the immorality 
of Caesar Bardas, a court favorite. Photius was given his 
place. As there arose some dissension in the Church, 
Photius asked Nicholas for his support. The pope as- 
sumed the place of a judge and pronounced againt Photius. 
This led to mutual excommunications, and the bitter 
struggle which ensued constitutes one of the stages in the 
progress of the schism between the two churches. 

Nicholas was followed by Hadrian II. (867-872), 



134 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



who saw clearly the ideal set up by Nicholas, but lacked 
the force and consistency necessary to keep as 
Hadrian ii. near it as Nicholas himself had come. He 
undertook to press the claims of the papacy 
to be heard in a dispute between Charles the Bald and 
Louis II., but his opinion was disregarded, and his threats 
proved ineffectual. He supported Hincmar of Laon, a 
nephew of Hincmar of Rheims, against his uncle, but here 
also he met with a rebuff. 

John VIII. (872-882) was more successful. His au- 
thority was in a manner recognized by Charles the Bald, 
whom he crowned emperor. This act was in- 
john viii. tended to unify Western Christendom as in the 
days of Charlemagne. It was followed by the 
coronation of the next emperor, Charles the Fat. But 
the inefficiency of this ruler proved an insuperable obstacle 
in the way of the effort at reunion. He was deposed in 
887 and the feudal system was fairly inaugurated in Eu- 
rope. Under this system any man was the independent 
sovereign of as much territory as he could obtain or hold. 
John VIII. was assassinated ; and with his death the 
moral character of the papacy took a downward course. 
The politics of Italy played a cardinal part in 
The Pomocracy. papal elections. The political factions cor- 
rupted the clergy and used them as their tools. 
Changes in the papacy became frequent. From 882 to 904 
twelve men held the office. In 904 Sergius III. (904- 
911) assumed the papal throne, contrary to all rules, 
by the aid of an armed force. The papacy fell under the 
influence of unprincipled women. Theodora, a member 
of the Roman aristocracy, but a woman of corrupt morals, 
together with her two daughters, Marozia and Theodora, 
controlled the succession of popes and put into the chair 
their companions in guilt. This is the period of the 
" Pornocracy," and lasted until 963. The last of the 
popes of this generation was John XII. (955-963). 
He was the grandson of Marozia, and had inherited the 
secular government of Rome on the death of his father, 
Alberic. Elected pope at the age of eighteen, he retained 
the name Octavian, as civil prince, and took that of John as 



THE PAPACY AND THE HOLY ROMAN EMPIRE. 



135 



ecclesiastical ruler. His record is one of the blackest. 
He was guilty of almost every crime conceivable. His 
enormities led the emperor, Otto I. (936-973), to in- 
terfere and restore order and purity in the Church. Otto 
was at first content with an oath of allegiance from John, 
but on realizing how inadequate this was, he convened a 
synod in Rome, had the pope deposed, and a new order 
established under a new pope. The relations of the 
Church and empire were settled by a compact. 

After fifty years of comparative order under the com- 
pact with the Saxon emperors, the papacy fell into another 
era of confusion known as the " Tusculan Su- 
Tuscuian premacy." The struggle for the control of 

Supremacy. r rr . J ^ DO . . - 

affairs at Rome narrowed down to the two 
families of Crescentius on one side and the Count of 
Tusculum on the other. The latter prevailed, and with 
the selection of Benedict VIII. (1012-1024) the papacy 
became hereditary in the Tusculan family. John XIX. 
(1024-1033) succeeded his brother Benedict. John 
was himself followed by his nephew, Benedict IX. 
(1033-1045). Though very young on his accession 
to the papal throne Benedict was noted for his corrup- 
tion. He surpassed even John XII. in the enormity 
of his crimes. He committed murders and adulteries 
openly, " robbed the pilgrims on the graves of martyrs, 
and turned Rome into a den of thieves." The horror 
of his atrocities exhausted the patience of the Romans. 
They expelled him and elected Sylvester III. (1044) ; but 
Benedict, by the help of the Tusculans, returned and re- 
instated himself in power. Later he sold the papacy to 
John Gratian (Gregory VI. 1045), who hoped, by reforming 
the papacy, to justify the illegal proceeding of buying it. 
But Benedict returned again and claimed what he had 
sold, on the ground that he had no right to sell it. Thus 
there were three popes. It was time for the emperor to in- 
terfere. Henry III. convened the Synod of Sutri (1046). 
Gregory VI. presided, the two other popes were deposed, 

and Gregory himself abdicated, confessing 
Synod of that for the sin of simony he was unworthy to 

hold the office. The synod was adjourned to 



I3 6 CHURCH HISTORY. 

Rome to electa pope, and the Tusculan ascendancy came 
to an end. 

The new pope was Clement II., who reigned but one 
year (1046-1047), being followed by Damasus II., who 

also reigned only a few months (1047-1048). 
Reforms. With the accession of the next pope, Leo 

IX. (1048-1054) there came a man on the 
scene who as the counselor of the popes, wielded a 
mighty uplifting influence on the papacy. This was 
Hildebrand. Born in the lower ranks of society, he 
entered a monastery at Clugny. Here, as Leo IX. was 
journeying through France, he was attracted by Hilde- 
brand and induced him to accept the position of sub- 
deacon at Rome. Hildebrand gradually grew in the 
estimation of the leaders until his word was regarded as 
well-nigh decisive in matters of ecclesiastical policy. He 
set himself to reform and purify the clergy and emanci- 
pate the papal see from the domination of the State. 
Thus under the successive papacies of Victor II. (1055- 
io 57)> Stephen X. or IX. * (1057-1058), Nicholas II. 
(1058-1061), and Alexander II. (1061-1073), as the 
power behind the throne, Hildebrand went as far as 
to secure the adoption of reform in the mode of papal 
elections. These were referred to a college of cardinals, 
which it was provided should meet in Rome, and should 
elect a pope out of the ranks of cardinals only ; the clergy 
were expected simply to give their assent to the action. 

* Stephen II., who became pope March 27, 752, died a few days 
after; for which reason he is usually omitted from the list of popes. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE SCANDINAVIANS 
AND SLAVS. 

Among the various projects of Charlemagne looking to 
the advancement of Christianity was also one having as 

its ultimate object, the planting of the Church 
Haraid Kiak. in the Scandinavian kingdoms. But his 

efforts to bring about this end, were not 
destined to meet with success. It was during the reign 
of his son, Louis the Pious, that Providence opened the 
way for this work. Haraid Klak besought the assistance 
of Louis in establishing his claims to the throne of Den- 
mark. In complying with the request, Louis also sent 
Ebo, archbishop of Rheirns (822) to teach the people 
the Christian faith. A beginning was thus made, but 
Ebo was not able to prosecute the work very far. Haraid 
Klak was expelled in 826, and took refuge at the im- 
perial court (at Ingelheim). Here he was converted 
to Christianity, and on his return took with him Ansgar 
(801-865), the missionary who was to earn the distinc- 
tion of being the Apostle of Denmark. 

The first efforts of Ansgar were directed towards the 
education of boys who should teach Christianity to their 

fellow countrymen. These he was compelled 
Ansgar in to redeem from the condition of slavery before 

Denmark. . . . , . ^ . i . 

he could reach them. But even this form 
of labor was soon interrupted (829) by the expulsion 
of Haraid Klak. Ansgar removed to Sweden. In the 
face of discouragements and contrary to the advice of 
friends, attacked and robbed on the way by pirates, 
he managed to land at Birka, and was received favorably 

137 



138 CHURCH HISTORY. 

by the king. Here he found that he had already been 
preceded as the herald of the gospel by certain Christian 
captives. The mind of the heathen seemed thus pre- 
pared for the preaching of Christ. Ansgar, deeming the 
time ripe, went in 832, to Rome and induced the 
pope (Gregory IV.) to found the archbishopric of Ham- 
burg as the metropolitan see of Denmark and Sweden. 
Of this see he was appointed the first incumbent. He 
was further reinforced by the accession of Gauzbert a 
nephew of Ebo. Taking the hardest part of the field to 
himself and giving the more promising part to Gauzbert, 
he now engaged in energetic labors. Gauzbert also 

labored in Sweden for sometime, but aban- 
in Sweden. doned the work in 845, greatly discouraged. 

Thus the whole field was again left to Ansgar. 
But another appeal for assistance brought to Sweden 
the energetic Erimbert, under whose direction Christianity 
made steady, even though slow progress. Unni (940), 
archbishop of Hamburg, built upon the foundations thus 
laid. Finally, with king Olaf Skotkonung (1008), who 
was baptized, the Church was firmly established. Idol- 
atry continued to be allowed until 1075 when Olaf's suc- 
cessors wiped out the last traces of it. 

Meanwhile in Denmark Ansgar's efforts resulted in the 
permission to build a church at Schleswig. In spite of 

changes in the attitude of the kings towards 
Conversion of hi m and his work, he continued to labor in- 

Denmark. . .... r i • i i • o •• 

cessantly until the time or his death in 865. 
He built hospitals and asylums for the sick and the poor, 
ransomed captives and sent missionaries to the remotest 
parts of the land. After his death the missionary work 
was involved in the political situation. At the end of 
the ninth century Denmark was united under Gorm the 
Old (941), a firm pagan who, though for a time he 
allowed the preaching of Christianity, resolved, on rea- 
lizing that it alienated his subjects from him, to extermi- 
nate it. He was prevented, however, by the emperor 
Henry I. from putting this resolution to action. He 
died in 941. His son Harald Blaatand (941-991) was 
converted to Christianity by archbishop Unni and used 



CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE SCANDINAVIANS AND SLAVS. 139 

his influence in favor of the new faith. But he was 
succeeded by Sweyn (991-10 14) who yielded to a re- 
actionary wave of heathenism and waged war against the 
Church. Finally under Canute the Great (1014-1035), 
Denmark formally entered the circle of Christian coun- 
tries. Canute invited Anglo-Saxon clergy to his realm to 
guide church affairs, made a pilgrimage to Rome, reestab- 
lished one bishopric and founded two others, and in every 
way adopted the Christian religion as that of the State. 

Norway was brought under one government by Harald 
Haarfagr (860-930). He was succeeded by Eric. But 
an illegitimate son, Hakon the Good, edu- 
Norway. cated in England and baptized as a Chris- 

tian, soon supplanted the unpopular Eric. 
Hakon aimed at the Christianization of Norway, but pro- 
ceeded with caution. He finally proposed that the people 
adopt the Christian faith of their own accord ; but his 
motive was misunderstood. The proposal was taken to be 
a secret blow at their liberties. Meanwhile the sons of 
Eric invaded the land and in a battle against them Hakon 
lost his life (969). The country was plunged into polit- 
ical confusion. The Dane Harald Blaatand invaded 
it (975) and introduced Christianity. But the domin- 
ion of the Danes was short-lived. It was overthrown 
by Hakon Jarl (975-995), and with it Christianity was 
put under the ban. Hakon Jarl himself was overthrown 
by Olaf Trygweson (995-1000), a descendant of Harald 
Haarfagr, converted and baptized while away from his 
native land. Olaf now attempted to force his new faith 
on the people. He was deposed in consequence of 
a second Danish invasion, and another season of con- 
fusion followed. Finally under Olaf the Saint (Harald- 
son 1 01 4-1 030), the Christian Church was put on a sure 
foundation. This prince died in a war against the Danes 
and was canonized and worshiped by his people. 

Iceland was discovered in 862 and colonized by Nor- 
wegians. But the gospel did not reach it, at least it 
made no permanent impression, until Thorvald 
Iceland. Kodranson while traveling in Saxony was 

converted and took bishop Frederic there as 



140 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



a missionary. His efforts, however, simply prepared the 
way. About the year iooo, two natives who had been 
banished, introduced Christianity on their return, and 
through their labors it spread and took permanent hold 
of the people. 

The Slavs appeared in Europe early in the Christian 
era. They were originally an Aryan race, but contact 

with various Tartar tribes caused a confusion 
The Slavs. no t merely in their race characteristics, but 

also in their religious beliefs and practices. 
At the time when Christian mission efforts were under- 
taken among them they had a polytheistic system and 
practiced human sacrifices and polygamy. Two waves of 
evangelizing effort swept over them, one from Constanti- 
nople and the other from the court of Charlemagne. 

The first touched Bulgaria, whose boundaries were ad- 
jacent to those of the Greek empire. Greek captives first 

made the gospel known to the Bulgarians, 
Christianiza- anc [ many thus accepted it. But such con- 

tion of Bui- Hi! • T 

garia. verts were called to endure persecution. In 

one of the conflicts between the Greeks and 
Bulgarians the former succeeded in taking as one of the 
captives the sister of the king, Bogoris. She was con- 
verted during the period of her captivity, and on her re- 
turn to her home, persuaded her brother to accept the 
gospel. In this she was assisted by Methodius, a Greek 
missionary. Methodius painted before the king a scene 
representing the last judgment, and succeeded in rousing 
his fears. Bogoris was baptized in 863. His conver- 
sion led him into a bloody conflict with a faction among 
his subjects who were staunch heathens. He proved vic- 
torious and forced the whole nation to follow his example. 
The question of the affiliation of the Bulgarian Church 
led to a dispute between the East and the West which 
was finally settled by the diplomacy of Basil the Mace- 
donian in favor of the East. 

Moravia was in political relation with Germany, and 

the western wave of evangelization had already touched 

this country, when, on account of the motive 

Moravia. of political independence from Germany, its 

king, Ratislav, sent to Michael III., Byzantine 



CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE SCANDINAVIANS AND SLAVS. 141 

emperor, for Greek missionaries. The emperor commis- 
sioned Cyril and Methodius to this work. Cyril invented 
an alphabet for the Slavonian language, translated the 
Scriptures into their dialect, framed a liturgy after the 
model of the one used in the Greek Church, and preached 
to the people with untiring energy. A national Moravian 
Church was thus formed. The Roman Church and the 
Western empire now stepped in to attach this church to 
themselves. In 868, Cyril and Methodius were invited 
to Rome, and a compact was formed according to which 
the Moravian Church was made the diocese of Pan- 
nonia and affiliated with Rome, Methodius being appointed 
its archbishop. The question of the language to be used 
in worship was also agitated. The pope allowed the use 
of the native language in preaching, but required the use 
of Latin in the liturgy. Swatopluk ascended the throne 
of Moravia in 870. At his death (908), the Moravian 
kingdom was conquered and divided between Bohemia 
and Hungary, and the Moravian Church lost its national 
character. 

Bohemia was made a dependency of Moravia during 
the reign of Swatopluk. Its prince, Borziwoi, on owning 

allegiance to Swatopluk, was taught the 
Bohemia. Christian faith, and baptized. Methodius 

himself went over to Bohemia further to in- 
struct and help him. But his people remained for the 
most part heathen. His successor, Wratislav, was neu- 
tral. But at the death of this prince (925), his two 
sons took opposite sides on the question of religion. 
Boleslav was a fierce heathen ; Wenceslav, a Christian. 
The latter was assassinated, and Boleslav the Cruel 
reigned and waged a relentless war against the Church. 
The emperor, Otto I., interfered and put a stop to his per- 
secutions (950). The son of this prince, Boleslav the 
Pious, embraced Christianity and established it as the 
religion of the State. 

Poland received the gospel from Moravian fugitives, 
who, upon the occasion of the conquest and division of 

that country, fled for refuge. As Poland was 
Poland. in a manner connected with Bohemia, the 

conversion of that country naturally reacted 



i 4 2 CHURCH HISTORY. 

on Poland, and the Christian religion was fully estab- 
lished when Mieceslav, at the instance of his Bohemian 
wife, professed Christianity and commanded his people 
to follow his example. The foundation of the see of 
Posen completed the work begun by the fugitives. 

Russia claims to have received the Christian religion 
from the apostle Andrew. The claim is based on the 

tradition that Andrew preached the gospel 
Russia. in Scythia. But for nearly nine centuries her 

history is a blank. Ruric was chosen ruler 
in 862, and is reputed to be the founder of the empire. 
The relations of the empire of Ruric with the Byzan- 
tines brought it in contact with the Church. But it was 
only as late as the days of Vladimir (980-1015) that this 
contact brought fruit. Vladimir, it is stated, was visited 
by deputations representing the four great religions of the 
day — Judaism, Mohammedanism, Roman Christianity, 
and Greek Christianity. Perplexed by the representa- 
tions of these delegates and unable to decide which he 
would have, he sent envoys of his own to investigate 
them in their own homes. These were impressed by 
the pomp of the court of Byzantium, and recommended 
its religion. Vladimir allied himself with the Byzantine 
dynasty by marrying the princess Anna, and joined the 
Greek communion. His subjects were baptized in great 
numbers. 

The Wends were then at the northwestern end of the 
line of Slav emigration. They were near neighbors 

to the Germans. The German emperors, 
The Wends. Henry I. and Otto I., especially the latter, 

interested themselves in them. Otto founded 
among them the bishoprics of Havelberg (946), Bran- 
denburg (949), Meissen, Merseburg and Zeitz (968). 
The people were on the way to the acceptance of 
Christianity when, in 983, Mistiwoi, an apostate from 
Christianity, checked the movement. Later he repented 
of his apostacy and attempted to retrieve the harm he 
had done by activity in favor of the Christian faith. 
His grandson, Gottschalk, also began as a Christian, 
and after a temporary falling away into heathen- 



CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE SCANDINAVIANS AND SLAVS. 143 

ism, founded a Christian Wendish empire (1047). A 
heathen reaction, however, well-nigh swept away all his 
efforts, as it also resulted in his martyrdom (1066). The 
Wendish Church was reestablished in the twelfth cen- 
tury. 

The Hungarians (Magyars) were in constant touch with 
the Eastern empire and Church, but seem to have remained 
unaffected. Otto I. first compelled them 
Magyars to admit missionaries into their territories 

(950). Somewhat later their prince, Geyza 
(972-998), married a Christian princess, Sarolta of 
Transylvania. She influenced her husband to favor 
Christianity, and the knowledge of this fact among the 
people resulted in the acceptance of the faith by large 
numbers of them. There was a heathen reaction when, 
somewhat later, Stephen (998-1038), the son of Geyza, 
openly avowed Christianity, but this was overcome, and 
the Church was securely founded. 



CHAPTER VIII. 



CONTROVERSIES AND SCHISMS. 

After the synods of Orange and Valence (529) de- 
clared in favor of Augustine's doctrine of sin and grace, 
the Church seemed to be committed to this 
Augustinianism system as a whole. There were many how- 

in the Church. J . ... ,, . J . . 

ever, who did not follow Augustine closely, 
especially on the subject of predestination, on which the 
synod had not committed itself. The discussion of these 
subjects broke out with renewed vigor in the ninth cen- 
tury within the Frankish Church. The champion of strict 
Augustinianism was Gottschalk (808-869). As a child 
Gottschalk had been given over (oblatus) to the monastery 
of Fulda. On reaching maturity be made an unsuccess- 
ful effort to repudiate the vow made in his behalf and was 
allowed to pass into another monastery. He incurred, 
however, by this course the enmity of Rabanus Maurus 
(776-856), a man of great influence. 

Gottschalk spent his time in the seclusion of the mon- 
astery in the study of the views of Augustine. Having 
become in this way an enthusiastic adherent 
Gottschalk. f these views, and observing that the theo- 
logians of his day were far from the stand- 
point of the father whom they professed to follow, he flung 
the charge of Semi-Pelagianism at them. This was re- 
ported to Rabanus Maurus and drew from him a de- 
nunciation of the preaching of Gottschalk. Gottschalk 
summed up his view in the teaching that, " God according 
to an unconditional decree out of his own free grace 
chooses some to whom he imparts the grace necessary for 
144 



CONTROVERSIES AND SCHISMS. 14 - 

their conversion and leaves the rest to suffer the penalty 
of the law according to merit." In expounding this view 
he used the term predestinatio duplex, drawing a distinction 
between the predestination of the elect to eternal life and 
the predestination of the non-elect to punishment. Both 
predestinations, however, he taught to be in themselves 
good. Rabanus Maurus represented Gottschalk as teach- 
ing that the elect are sure of salvation, whatever their 
conduct, and that the non-elect could have no oppor- 
tunity. 

The dispute thus acquired considerable magnitude and 
importance. A synod at Mayence in 848 tried and ex- 
communicated Gottschalk as a heretic. He 
cFmned™ C ° n was re f erre d to Hincmar, who brought him 
before another synod at Chiersy, and, having 
His impris- na d a second sentence passed on him, scourged 

onmeut. .. . it- ^ i ii • i 

and imprisoned him. Gottschalk remained 
constant in his views in spite of this treatment. Except 
for the act of throwing his book into the fire, under the 
influence of physical pain he showed no sign of weaken- 
ing. He died in imprisonment in the convent of Haut- 
villiers, still holding to predestinarianism. 

The controversy was not ended with the condemna- 
tion of Gottschalk's views. Prudentius of Troyes (861) 
Ratramnus of Corbie (868), and Servatus 
Controversy Lupus, abbot at Ferrieres (862), took up his 
john^coms teachings and presented them in more moder- 
Engena. ate language. These were men in good stand- 

ing, and to meet them Hincmar asked king 
Charles theBald to invite John Scotus Erigena (805-891), 
a thinker whose acumen had obtained for him a high 
reputation. Scotus wrote, but in a mystic pantheistic 
vein which was neither understood nor helped the cause 
of Hincmar. 

A second synod at Chiersy (853) laid down four 

propositions. (1). Man was free at the creation ; by 

the abuse of liberty he sinned. Out of the 

Controvert mass of the lost, God elected those who were 

predestinated to life. Others he left in the 

mass not foreordaining them to perdition, but foreordain- 

10 



i 4 6 CHURCH HISTORY. 

ing punishment for them. (2.) Freedom was lost in 
the fall and regained in Christ. (3.) God would have 
all saved, though all are not saved. Salvation is a free 
gift. Perdition is the desert of sin. (4.) Jesus Christ 
died for all men, though not all are saved, because of 
unbelief. This was a vague vindication of the predesti- 
narian view. A clearer statement was desired by its ad- 
herents. Such a one was given at the synod of Valence 
(855) in six propositions developing the doctrine of 
Augustine more consistently. To remove the evident dif- 
ference between these, Hincmar and Remigius agreed to 
refer the matter to another synod, but this was not done. 
Since the days of John of Damascus the Eastern Church 
had come to hold that the elements in the Lord's Supper 
are transformed into the body and blood of 
Sacramentarian j eS us Christ. The Western Church held to 

v^ontrovcrsv. 

the view of Augustine that they acquired a 
spiritual efficacy. During the course of the seventh and 
eighth centuries the growth of superstition tended to the 
acceptance in the West of the Eastern view. This view 
gained ground steadily until it found utterance in a book 
by Paschasius Radbertus, On the Body and Blood of 
the Lord. Radbertus taught that the bread and wine 
were efficaciously changed, so that after the consecra- 
tion, " there is in the Eucharist nothing else but the flesh 
and blood of Christ, though the figure of bread and wine 
remain." This doctrine created a stir in the West. 
Charles the Bald, to whom the book of Radbertus was 
dedicated, asked Ratramnus a monk of Corbie for his 
opinion on it. Ratramnus in answer wrote a book bear- 
ing the same title but containing exactly the opposite 
view. The Church was divided into two camps. Ra- 
tramnus was supported by Rabanus Maurus, W T alafrid 
Strabo, Christian Druthmar, Florus Magister and even 
John Scotus Erigena. Radbertus found allies in Hincmar 
of Rheims and Haimo of Halberstad. The weight of 
opinion was at this time evidently against Radbertus and 
in favor of Ratramnus, but the question was left open. 
Interest in the discussion abated and no action had been 
taken by council or pope. 



CONTROVERSIES AND SCHISMS. 



147 



Two hundred years after the appearance of Radbertus' 
work On the Body and Blood of the Lord, his teaching was 
attacked again by a canon and director of 
B nd e hl a views ^ ie scno °l at Tours — Berengarius (iooo- 
1088). This learned man embodied his 
views in a letter to Lanfranc, abbot of Bee, then at 
Rome, which the latter referred to the pope (Leo IX.). 
The pope put them before a council at Rome (1050), and 
they were condemned. Berengarius, himself, was sum- 
moned to apppear before another council at Vercelli, but 
failed to obey the summons and was again condemned 
without further hearing. After a short interval of silence 
and suspense, however, he was relieved of the charge of 
heresy by a provincial synod at Tours (1054). Here he 
won the confidence and friendship of Hildebrand, who acted 
as the representative of the pope. But his opponents were 
not satisfied with this result, and held another council at 
Rome where, confiding in the friendship and power of 
Hildebrand, Berengarius presented himself (1059). His 
trust, however, proved to be misplaced ; for he was made 
to sign a statement in which the change of the elements 
in the Eucharist was asserted in the most unequivocal 
terms. Going back to France, he reaffirmed his belief in 
the spiritual nature of the sacrament, and withdrew his 
assent to the statement he had signed at Rome, on the 
ground that he had signed it only from fear of death. 
Thus matters stood for nearly twenty years. Meanwhile 
the tide was going against him. In 1078 he was once 
more summoned to Rome, and induced by Hildebrand to 
sign a document couched in ambiguous terms. But as 
this act was also regarded as unsatisfactory by his accus- 
ers, he was required and compelled the next year to sub- 
scribe a most rigidly transubstantiationist formula. The 
only alternative left him appeared to be a martyr's death. 
He signed, and was allowed to go back to his home, where 
he spent the rest of his days in great dejection of spirit. 
Thus Lanfranc's doctrine of transubstantiation triumphed 
in the Church. 

A theological difference arose between the Eastern and 
Western branches of the Church, which was destined to 



I4 8 CHURCH HISTORY. 

result in the final separation of these branches 
between CeS into two organizations, each one of which 
Eastern and looks on the other as schismatic. This was 
Churches. the difference on the subject of the procession 

of the Holy Spirit. While, however, this the- 
ological difference was used as the primary occasion of 
the separation, there were other causes of a more funda- 
mental nature that brought it about. The chief one of 
these was probably the political alienation of the East 
and West when the Frankish kingdom was formed. 
Ecclesiastical government was administered upon geo- 
graphical lines, and with the sharp line of demarcation 
between the East and West created by the new western 
state, there arose a rivalry between the two branches of 
the Church represented respectively at Constantinople 
and Rome. Along with the political difference there ap- 
peared also, very naturally, a series of variations of minor 
importance in worship and practice. The Eastern Church 
recognized eighty-five apostolical canons as valid ; the 
Western only fifty. The Eastern forbade the ordination 
of married men to episcopal rank only, keeping all lower 
ranks of clergy open to them, but not allowing marriage 
after ordination ; the Western prohibited marriage to all 
clergy. The Eastern Church forbade fasting on Saturdays ; 
the Western allowed it. The Eastern Church forbade eat- 
ing of blood and things strangled, and the use of the figure 
of the lamb as a symbol of Christ ; the Western allowed 
all these things. As for the difference on the subject of 
the procession of the Holy Spirit, it was clearly brought 
to light in the adoption of the clause " and from the Son " 
(Filioque) in the Creed by the council of Toledo (589), 
later also at Gentilly (767), Friaul (796), and Aix-la- 
Chapelle (809). 

These differences could not long remain unobserved. 
It was only necessary for a suitable occasion to appear in 

order that they might lead to a disruption. 
Se P *™ ti( ? n in Such an occasion did present itself when 
Century. Photius appealed to Nicholas I. to help him 

in enforcing the deposition of Ignatius his 
predecessor. Nicholas, assuming the position of a su- 



CONTROVERSIES AND SCHISMS- 149 

perior and judge, pronounced against Photius. As the 
latter resisted the authority thus assumed, the pope ex- 
communicated him. A violent controversy ensued in 
which both sides held up the differences existing between 
them and charged each other with departure from the faith. 
The question was complicated by the new dispute as to 
the allegiance of the Bulgarian Church. A council called 
ex parte met in Constantinople in 867 and pronounced, 
as was expected, for the Eastern side. But a change 
of dynasty in Constantinople altered the face of affairs. 
The new emperor, Basil the Macedonian, declared against 
Photius, deposed him and reinstated Ignatius and pro- 
nounced the decisions of council of 867 null and void. 
Another council in 869 confirmed these acts of Basil. 
This was satisfactory to the Western Church and the 
council was recognized as the eighth ecumenical. But 
Photius was presently reelected patriarch and became 
sufficiently reconciled to the pope to have the ques- 
tion reopened. A third council was therefore called, 
which met in Constantinople in 879-880. This coun- 
cil rescinded the action of that of 869, reinstated Photius, 
anathematized believers in the filioque and other changes 
in the Nicene Symbol. The papal delegates were bribed 
to concur in these decisions and went back with false re- 
ports of the proceedings to the pope. On discovering the 
deception the pope anathematized Photius and repudiated 
the action of his representatives. Meanwhile another 
change at Constantinople led to the deposition of Photius 
and the suspension of the discussion at this point. 

During the middle of the eleventh century a new dif- 
ference between the two branches of the Church arose on 

the use of unleavened bread in the Eucharist. 
Final Schism. The custom of using such bread had grown 

imperceptibly in the West since the ninth 
century. In 1053 the patriarch Michael Cerularius 
charged the Western Church with imitating the Jews in 
the observance of Easter. He called them "Azymites" 
on account of their use of unleavened bread. * The 
charges were met by countercharges. Cardinal Humbert, 

* aZv/uog, bread made without leaven. 



i 5 o 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



a man of violent temper, appeared as the champion of 
the Roman side. To arrest the controversy the emperor 
Constantine Monomachus proposed a conference. The 
Western delegates led by Humbert appeared in Constanti- 
nople and were favored by the emperor. The patriarch 
and people, however, stanchly refused to agree on the 
terms of reconciliation proposed by them. Finding it im- 
possible to make further progress towards an understand- 
ing they laid an excommunication on the altar of the 
Church of St. Sophia (July 17, 1054) and departed. The 
patriarch in his turn excommunicated the pope and the 
schism was complete. 



CHAPTER IX. 

LIFE AXD MORALS IN THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH. 

The marked feature of the age is the divorce of religion 

and morals. While piety was externally very great, its 

root was superstition rather than vital godli- 

Degeneration ness. Fear and not love was the actuating 

of Morals. ~. . ^ ... .. r _ ° 

motive in the religious life. It was not un- 
common for Christians to express their devotion to their 
faith by building churches, going on pilgrimages, under- 
taking the defence of the Church against her enemies, and 
scrupulously obeying her prescriptions in external matters ; 
and yet living immoral lives. The Frank kings were no- 
torious criminals. Their example could not fail to have 
its effect on the people. Thus as the age advanced mor- 
als degenerated. 

The tenth century particularly is distinguished as the 
period of the lowest ebb in morals in Europe. It has 

for this reason been called the Dark Cen- 
The Dark tury (seculum obscnrum). As the year iooo 

drew near the superstitious belief gained 
ground that the world was coming to its end. This be- 
lief had the natural effect of paralysing the energies of 
the Church. Lawlessness prevailed. Piracy, brigand- 
age, and ruffianism, became very common. 

Still in the midst of confusion the Church continued, 
like good leaven, leavening the lump of society. There 

were cases of lofty spiritual ideals, rare indeed, 
The whole- DU tj therefore all the more remarkable. And 

some Influence . ...... . . 

of the Church, these owed their inspiration to the gospel as 
taught by the Church. The Apostles' Creed, 

151 



152 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



the Lord's Prayer and the Ten Commandments continued 
to be taught and held by all Christians and their diffusion 
among the people could not fail to have some effect. 
Family life was not what it should have been, but 
it was purer than among the Oriental un-Christian 
nations, or among the ancient pagan Greeks and Ro- 
mans. 

Slavery was common and allowed by the Church ; but 
its severities were much softened by wholesome ecclesi- 
astical legislation. Asylum was offered to 
slavery. fugitive slaves on the same terms as to other 

fugitives. Children of slaves were educated 
for the priesthood, though in order to be ordained they 
must be first emancipated. The marriage of a free person 
and a slave was permitted, if the condition of the slave 
was known to the free party. No slave was obliged to 
work on Sunday. Nor were the owners of slaves per- 
mitted to sell them to Jews or to pagans. Emancipation 
was encouraged and many were led to give their slaves 
their freedom. 

As long as society existed in a disintegrated condition 

and justice or redress could not be secured through a 

common government whose power was re- 

Private Feuds, spected, each family or clan tried to secure it 

Truce of -God. ^ . • J 

on its own account. 1 his gave rise to num- 
berless private wars or feuds. Some of these were nat- 
urally fierce and lasted for a long time. The Church set 
its face against these private feuds as also against duels. 
But unable to stop them entirely it finally devised the 
" Truce of God " (Treuga Dei) as a means of lessening 
the evil in them. This institution arose in Aquitaine 
near the close of the period under consideration (1033). 
It consisted in the total suspension of hostilities between 
Wednesday evening and Monday morning — on Friday, 
Saturday and Sunday, in memory of the events which 
occurred on these days during Passion week, and on 
Thursday because of Christ's ascension. Thus did the 
memory of the Prince of Peace act as a peacemaker in 
the days of fierce passions and cruel feuds. 

Wherever it was possible the Church used its discipline 



LIEE AND MORALS IN THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH. 



*53 



in bringing the disobedient and lawless to penitence and ref- 
ormation. Three grades of discipline came 
Discipline. to De recognized, viz. : (1) Excommunication 
from or exclusion from the sacrament ; (2) 
Anathema which at the council of Pavia in 950 was de- 
fined as " a higher species of excommunication " and in- 
cluded the threat of special penalties in the future life ; 
besides mere exclusion from church privileges in this life ; 
and (3) The Interdict. This form of discipline was in- 
flicted on rulers or princes and consisted in the prohibi- 
tion of all religious services within their territories, except 
baptism and extreme unction, and these when performed 
must take place with closed doors. The principle under- 
lying the interdict was that the ruler who was not moved 
by the individual excommunication or anathema should 
be coerced to heed the voice of the Church through those 
under him ; therefore these were made the victims of the 
Church's disciplinary action that they might secure the 
submission of the prince. 

Worship became more and more bound to liturgical 
forms. The Latin language in the West and the 
Greek in the East were alone allowed to 
Worship. be used. In the case of the Slavonians, 

the sermon was permitted to be preached in 
the vernacular.* The liturgy itself, however, continued 
to be enriched by the addition to it of new and glowing 
contributions in the form of hymns. Rabanus Maurus, 
already named as a noted ecclesiastic and theologian, 
composed Latin hymns, especially the Veni Creator •, which 
has survived to the present day. Notker Balbulus 
(840-912) introduced an innovation in the sequence. 
Previously the sequence was a mere prolongation of the 
last syllable of the Allelu-ia sung between the reading of 
the Epistle and the Gospel, giving time by the prolonga- 
tion to the deacon to ascend from the pulpit to the organ 
loft from whence he was to chant the Gospel. Notker 

* Pope John VIII., is the reputed originator of the distinction. 
Greek and Latin, he decided, should be used in addressing God in 
the liturgy; but barbarous tongues like the Slavonic might be good 
enough in addressing the barbarians in preaching. 



j 54 CHURCH HISTORY. 

changed this single syllable into a rhythmical hymn. 
King Robert of France (970-1031), son of Hugo Capet 
was also skillful in the writing of hymns 
Hymnoiogy. anc [ to h; m i s ascribed another Latin pro- 
duction that has come down to modern times 
— the Vent Sancte Spiritus (Come Holy Spirit). 

Monasticism received a new impulse and developed 
into new forms. About 760 Chrodegang, bishop of 
Mentz, imposed canonic life upon the regular 
Monasticism. clergy of his diocese. This was modeled 
after the Rule of Benedict of Nursia and was 
soon adopted as the law of the Frankish Church under 
the name Regula Aquisgranensis (816). But the gen- 
eral decline of morals affected the monastic system, 
and corruption entered here also. The monasteries 
grew wealthy and their wealth proved an irresistible 
temptation to the covetous to enter them for the sake 
of enjoying or administering their property. Many 
laymen even sought the headship of monasteries for 
the material gain attached to them* When they obtained 
possession of them they turned them practically into 
feudal castles, bringing within these enclosures their 
wives, their hounds for the chase, and other worldly ac- 
companiments. 

In the midst of this state of things Benedict of Aniane 

(750-821) appeared as a reformer. He revised the 

Rule of Benedict of Nursia and introduced a 

Reforms. stricter discipline. But this reform was local. 

v^lUfifllV 

In the tenth century another reformation was 
instituted by Berno (927) in Burgundy upon the lines 
set by Benedict of Aniane. This was followed up more 
vigorously by Berno's successor, Odo of Clugny (942), 
and culminated in the ascendancy of the monastery 
of Clugny in Burgundy and the acceptance of its plan 
as a model by a system of monasteries which now 
constituted the " Congregation " of Clugny. This was 
an association of monasteries holding an annual meeting 
for the purpose of legislating uniformly for the whole 
circle of which it consisted. In the twelfth century two 
thousand monastic communities had entered the congrega- 



LIFE AND MORALS IN THE MEDIEVAL CHURCH. 



155 



tion. Its influence in France was great and wholesome. 
Morals were perceptibly improved by it. Its example 
was followed by the monks of the Appenines in the form- 
ation of the Camaldulensian order and at Vallombrosa 
by the order of the Vallombrosans. 



CHAPTER X. 

THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE IN CONFLICT. 

The accession of Hildebrand to the papal throne did 
not so much usher in as bring to its highest point the wave 

of reformation already set into motion more 
Gre e or io vn tnan twenty-five years before. Hildebrand, 

as has already been said, was the friend and 
counselor of the popes, and practically dictated the 
policy of the papacy since the election of Leo. IX. in 
1048. When Alexander II. died in 1073, the peo- 
ple demanded his elevation to the office which all 
knew he had previously controlled. He was reluctant 
to come into the foreground. Physically he was not a 
strong man. His intimate relations with his immediate 
predecessors had taught him the difficulties with which 
he would be surrounded. His first action was to ask 
the consent of the emperor Henry IV. to his assumption 
of the papal crown (tiara). Henry readily granted 
what it would have been well-nigh impossible to refuse. 
As Gregory VII., Hildebrand was now ready to prosecute 
the work of reform to its completion. 

The marriage of the clergy, simony, and investiture by 
the secular princes were the three abuses which to his 

mind hindered the full exercise of that power 
Reforms. which belonged to the Church. Against these 

therefore he directed his blows. At a synod 
held in Rome the year following his accession (1074) 
he reenacted the old law of clerical celibacy which had 
fallen into desuetude. A storm of opposition arose on 
the part of the clergy ; but Gregory knew how to excite 
the feelings of the common people against the married 

156 



THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE IN CONFLICT. 



157 



priests and secure the permanency of the law. In 
1075 he held another synod, which pronounced against 
simony and lay investiture, or the installation of the 
bishops into their offices by the presentation of the ring 
and staff by the prince within whose dominions they were 
to exercise their functions. Such investiture was for- 
bidden at this time on pain of excommunication. 

The pope's ideal came into full view in the action 
against investiture. He held that the spiritual world 
was above the temporal, and therefore should 
mdb° f d not on ty ^ e ^dependent of its control, but on 
the contrary, should dominate the temporal. 
The end he aimed at was a theocracy with the pope as 
the visible representative of God. If the saints were to 
be judges of angels, how much more fittingly might they 
be judges of secular princes. The purification of the 
morals of the clergy and the extinction of simony were 
simply means calculated to train and prepare the 
hierarchy for the supremacy of the Church over the 
State. 

Henry IV. could not but feel that the blow was aimed 

at his own power. He was engaged, at the time the 

action on investiture w r as taken, in a war with 

Conflict with ^ e Saxons. He undertook to come to an 

and Submission . . . . . - , 

of Hemy iv. understanding with the pope, but was met 
with the threat that unless he heeded the voice 
of the Church he must be excommunicated. Indignant 
at this attitude he summoned a synod of German bishops 
at Worms and caused the deposition of the pope. The 
answer of Gregory to this measure was a solemn anathema, 
absolving all Henry's subjects from their oath of allegi- 
ance. The subject princes of the empire, already dis- 
satisfied with Henry, resolved that, unless within a year 
he should have this anathema removed, the imperial 
throne should be declared forfeited. Henry was reduced 
to straits. He sought the pope as a penitent at Canossa 
in January 1077 and was allowed to plead for forgiveness 
for three days in the snows of winter before he was 
granted absolution. 

Meanwhile the German princes had elected Rudolph 



I S 8 CHURCH HISTORY. 

of Suabia to the imperial throne. Henry's humiliation 
appeared to have been for naught. Enraged 
Henry and at this turn of affairs, the emperor now ac- 
Pop e h ° fthe cepted tne alliance of the Lombards, and 
while Gregory remained neutral, conquered 
the rebels, and on being again anathematized, set up 
an anti-pope (Clement III.), and was crowned by him 
(1084). Gregory without conceding for a moment that 
he was thwarted withdrew to Salerno, where he died the 
following year (1085). 

The successors of Gregory could do no more than in- 
sist on the principles he had laid down. Victor III. 
( 1 085-1 087), strictly adhered to the policy 
G U regor S y° rSOf of his P re decessor. Urban II. was called 
on to struggle against the claims of the 
anti-pope Clement, but made the papacy the center of 
a new enthusiasm by broaching the idea of the Crusades. 
Paschal II. (1099-1118), pushed Hildebrand's ideas 
with indiscriminate zeal. Henry died during his pontif- 
icate, and it was only five years after this event that 
his son secured the removal of the ban and his inter- 
ment with due ecclesiastical ceremony. Henry V. was 
not, however, disposed to be any more yielding on the 
question of investiture than his father had been. So long 
as Paschal held the papacy he maintained the right to 
inaugurate bishops into their offices. Paschal was fol- 
lowed by Gelasius (1118-1119), whose reign was brief 
and unhappy. His successor Calixtus II. (1119-1124), 
backed by popular clamor for peace, succeeded in for- 
cing the emperor to enter on an agreement known 
as the Concordat of Worms (1122). According to 
the terms of this compact the emperor gave up the 
right of investiture, and the pope conceded the right of 
German princes to superintend the election of prelates 
in their dominions. 

The Concordat of Worms was confirmed by a synod 
held at Rome in the Lateran palace, hence known as the 
First Lateran or ninth ecumenical synod 
Ghibeiiine d ( I22 3)- Henry died soon after this with- 
out issue. He was succeeded in the empire 



THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE IN CONFLICT. 



159 



by Lothair the Saxon (11 25-1 137). Calixtus was fol- 
lowed in the papal chair by Honorius II. (1124-1130), 
and Innocent II. (1130-1143). During the pontificate 
of the latter the empire passed into the hands of the 
Hohenstaufen family under Conrad III. (1137-1152), 
and with Conrad began the Guelph-Ghibelline feud — 
a quarrel between the papal (Guelph), and the imperial 
(Ghibelline or Waibling) factions — which continued 
through the twelfth, thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. 

But another influence hostile to the papacy was set at 
work about the same time by Arnold of Brescia. Arnold 
appeared as the advocate of a return to the 
^ s ol . dof old Roman republican system in political 

government, and to the apostolic system 
of pure spirituality in the Church. He taught that 
the clergy should give up their earthly possessions and 
limit themselves to spiritual functions. Under his lead 
a republic was actually proclaimed at Rome (1143), 
though his views had been condemned and he had been 
himself sentenced to silence by the Second Lateran or 
tenth ecumenical council 1139. The popes who suc- 
ceeded Innocent II. appeared to be impotent against 
the popular favor shown Arnold. He boldly denounced 
them as false shepherds. When, however, Hadrian 
IV. (1154-1159), previously an English monk (Nich- 
olas Breakspeare), was elected to the papacy, he re- 
duced the people to submission by placing Rome under 
an interdict. Arnold was driven from the city, and after- 
wards seized by Frederick Barbarossa, who delivered him 
to his enemies. He was put to death at Rome in 1155. 

But Hadrian saw himself presently confronted by a 
more formidable enemy than Arnold of Brescia. Con- 
rad was succeeded in the empire by Frederick 
Conflict with Barbarossa (111:2-1100), a man of com- 

Frederick . . 

Barbarossa. manding personality and an enemy of the 
hierarchy. Though living at peace with the 
pope for a time, he was led in 1158 to hold a diet 
on the Plain of Roncaglia and proclaim the rights of the 
empire, formally recording them through certain jurists 
of Bologna. The pope was in the act of preparing an 



160 CHURCH HISTORY. 

anathema on the emperor when he died. His successor 
Alexander III. (1159-1181) published the anathema. 
The war between the pope and the emperor now broke out 
in earnest. Frederick marched into Rome with the anti- 
pope Victor IV. ; but a fever paralyzed his army, and he 
saw himself compelled to return into Germany without 
having pressed fully the advantage he had gained. Later, 
in 1 1 76 at Legnano, he suffered a decisive defeat and rec- 
ognized Alexander as pope. 

Another conflict in which the papal and secular powers 
engaged, also contributing to the exaltation of the papacy, 

was that between the Roman Church and 
Henry ii., and k; ng Henry II. of England. The English 
Becket. Church had developed a semi-independence 

against which Hildebrand's effort seemed to 
prove unavailing. Alexander set himself to accomplish 
what Gregory had failed to do. Henry, to oppose the 
pope's efforts the more effectually, secured the appoint- 
ment of his chancellor Thomas a Becket, to the arch- 
bishopric of Canterbury. A Becket, however, was no 
sooner lifted to the high office than he developed extreme 
devotion to the papacy. He stood in the way of the re- 
forms contemplated by the king. The king having 
expressed his impatience with this attitude, a Becket was 
assassinated and the reaction which followed this crime 
cost Henry a bitter humiliation and the abandonment of 
his plans. 

While gaining power externally, Alexander also con- 
solidated the internal order of the Church. At the Third 

Lateran, eleventh ecumenical council (11 79), 
innocent in. he secured the passage of rules governing 

the election of popes. After the death of 
Alexander, little was done by his successors until the 
accession of Innocent III. Frederick was drowned while 
crossing a stream in Palestine during the third crusade. 
His son Henry VI. (1191-1197) did not survive to the 
time of Innocent III. (1198-1216). Thus when Innocent 
ascended the papal throne, there appeared to be no 
strong Ghibelline to thwart his plans or resist his claims. 
He consequently wielded an almost absolute authority 



THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE IN CONFLICT. z 6i 

and brought the papal power to its zenith. He made 
his voice heard in the public affairs of Europe. In Ger- 
many the succession to the throne was disputed by Otto 
of Brunswick and Philip of Hohenstaufen, the uncle and 
natural guardian of the infant son of Henry VI. The 
pope declared for Otto, on condition of the surrender of 
the imperial prerogatives reserved by the Concordat of 
Worms. But when Otto, proving false to his promise to 
relinquish these prerogatives, attempted to exercise them, 
Innocent excommunicated and deposed him and placed 
the rightful heir, Frederick II., in his place. 
Frederick ii. In France the king, Philip Augustus, had put 
away his wife, Ingeburga, and married Agnes. 
The pope by the application of the interdict, compelled 
him to take back his first and lawful wife. In England 
a dispute arose as to the election of an archbishop of 
Canterbury. The matter was referred to the pope. He 
took advantage of the occasion to introduce his friend 
Stephen Langton into the vacant archbishopric, and when 
king John declined to recognize Langton, the pope again 
by the use of the interdict forced the king to submission. 
It was upon this occasion that the nobles rose up against 
John, and wrested from him the Magna Charta — since 
then " the charter of the nation." 

One of the last acts of Innocent, was the convocation 
of a council. This was the Fourth Lateran or twelfth 
ecumenical council (12 15). It advised the reconquest 
of the Holy Land, the extermination of heresy, and re- 
forms in the Church. 

The death of Innocent coincides with the attainment 
of his majority by Frederick II. (12 12-1250). Hon- 
orius III. (1216-1227) who took up the papal 
Honorius in. office after Innocent, was a man of mild tem- 
FifXcnisade. perament. He was satisfied with small con- 
cessions and promises of crusades by Frederick. 
The emperor, however, delayed the fulfillment of his 
promise, satisfying the pope that he had good reasons for 
so doing. But Honorius was succeeded by Gregory IX. 
(1227-1241), a nephew of Innocent III. and a man 
of inflexible resolution as well as ascetic zeal. Frederick 
11 



1 62 CHURCH HISTORY. 

saw himself obliged to set sail for the Holy Land, but 
returned after three days on the pretense of an epidemic 
in his fleet. The pope excommunicated him. As if to 
prove the injustice of this measure, Frederick started on 
his crusade the following year without having taken pains 
to remove the ban. The fame of his dispute with the pope 
and of his excommunication preceded him, and on land- 
ing, he found himself surrounded by Christians who 
would have nothing to do with him, and Saracens whom 
he must treat as enemies. In spite of the difficulty of 
the situation, he managed to exact some concessions 
from the Sultan, made a ten years' truce and returned to 
Europe to prosecute the feud with the pope. Here in 
the course of a short time he achieved a victory clear 
enough to give him the power of dictating for Sicily 
the Code of Vinea as the law regulating the relations 
of Church and State. According to this compact, the 
authority of the Church should be subordinate to that of 
the State, though heretics were to be delivered over to 
the Church for discipline. 

But the feud broke out afresh in 1239, when the pope 

anathematized the emperor once more and released his 

subjects from their oath of allegiance to him. 

Conflict Re- The emperor in return accused the pope of 

nfiwed 

inclining to the heresy of the Catharists. 
Gregory charged him with infidelity and sympathy with 
the Saracens. Frederick once more marched against 
Rome. The pope called a council but before it met he 
died. His successor Innocent IV. (1241-1254) now 
took up and continued the warfare, denouncing the 
emperor at the council of Lyons (1245) as a heretic and 
robber. Frederick met with numerous reverses and died 
in the midst of them. 

His son Conrad IV. was unequal to the great conflict. 
He carried on the struggle only for a short time (1250- 

1254). With his death the house of Hohen- 
Faiiofthe staufen may be said to have come to its 

Hohenstaufen. , _, J , ± . . , , . , 

end. Conradin, his successor, was detained 
in Suabia for a time, and as he came forward to claim 
his ancestral heritage he was seized and put to death in 
1268 by the Guelphs. 



THE PAPACY AND THE EMPIRE IN CONFLICT. ^3 

It was at this time that Louis IX. of France set forth 
in a document called the Pragmatic Sanction the rela- 
tions of the Church and State in his own do- 
Louis ix. and mains. By the terms of the Pragmatic Sanc- 
Sauction. tion, France was to pay no tribute in the form 

of money to the pope, nor should any funds be 
raised in the realm, except by consent of the king and peo- 
ple. Further the bishops of the French Church were to be 
chosen freely by the native clergy, and the prelates and 
patrons should enjoy the revenues of the Church. 

From 1268 to 127 1 there was a vacancy in the papal 
throne. This was filled by the election of Gregory X. 
(12 71-1276). Gregory had been a crusader 
Gregory x ^ with Edward of England. With the intent 
aps ur s s - £ en li s ting the empire in another crusade 
he assisted in its .reorganization under a new dynasty. 
Thus after an interregnum of twenty years Rudolph of 
Hapsburg was made emperor (1273). The dynasty, of 
which Rudolph was the first, by a wise subordination to the 
popes retained hold of the empire for a long period. 

After reorganizing the empire, the next care of the pope 
was to rouse the enthusiasm of the Church for a crusade. 
To this end he called an ecumenical council — the four- 
teenth, which met at Lyons and is also known as the Sec- 
ond of Lyons (1274). Two other subjects were put before 
the council besides the raising of means for the recovery of 
the Holy Land. These were the reunion of Eastern and 
Western Christendom, and the reform of morals. The 
results were equally disappointing in all. 

Though Gregory's efforts gave the papacy some of the 

zest which characterized it under his predecessors, they 

were not followed up by those who came after 

Sf a .? inT J- him. In 1281 Martin IV. (1281-128O was 

Sicilian Vespers. . . v 0/ 

raised to the papacy. He was a Frenchman 
and the French influence became supreme with him. 
But the Sicilians, who had been under the power of the 
French for some time previously, unable longer to endure 
the yoke, broke out in rebellion, and, on Easter Monday, 
1282, at the ringing of the vesper bells, occurred the 
massacre of all the French on the island, an event known 
in history as the Sicilian Vespers. 



164 CHURCH HISTORY. 

The last of the popes of this period was Celestine V. 
previously a hermit (1294). It was soon felt, however, 

that he was not competent to administer the 
Celestine v. affairs of so important an office as the papal, 

and he was induced by Cardinal Cajetan to re- 
sign. To prevent further trouble he was imprisoned. He 
died two years later. Cajetan himself was made his suc- 
cessor as Boniface VIII. (1 294-1303). 



CHAPTER XI. 

THE CRUSADES. WARS OF THE CHURCH AGAINST 
INFIDELS AND HERETICS. 

Palestine fell under the dominion of the Mohamme- 
dans before the middle of the seventh century. European 
Christendom did not, however, realize at 
Mohammedan once the significance of this fact. The rela- 
Paiestine. tions between it and the Holy Land were not 
close and direct. But in the course of the 
Middle Ages pilgrimages to the Holy Sepulcher became 
very common, and acquired a peculiar meaning as merito- 
rious works to be laid to one's account, and serving to 
counterbalance his sins. They grew more frequent to- 
wards the end of the tenth century, as the belief in the 
approaching end of the world gained ground. The Mo- 
hammedans at first favored and protected the pilgrims, 
but as they became more numerous, they changed their 
attitude and began to annoy them. European Christen- 
dom now came to realize that it was a disgrace to allow 
the holy place to continue under infidel rule, and to en- 
tertain the idea of recovering it. Hildebrand himself 
was anxious to move in that direction, but was prevented 
by his struggle with the empire. One of his successors, 
Urban II., was appealed to by the emperor of the East, 
Alexis Comnenus, and urged, at the council at Clermont 
(1095), a war for the recovery of the Holy Land under 
the standard of the cross. The impression made by his 
address was profound. The audience responded, " Deus 
lo vult " (God wills it), and the assembled prelates car- 
ried the enthusiasm to their homes. 

The agitation soon brought forth fruit. Peter the 
Hermit and Walter the Penniless went about organizing 

165 



1 66 CHURCH HISTORY. 

the first expedition against the Mohammedans. Peter, 
having gathered an undisciplined horde, put 
Hermit. 6 himself at its head and started for the East, 

Crus fi d St k ut was soon compelled, by lack of personal fit- 

ness, to relinquish the lead, while his followers 
were cut down by the Turks in Bulgaria. Another host 
of 200,000 perished after getting as far as Hungary. 
Finally an army of 80,000 under Godfrey de Bouillon, 
Duke of Lorraine, passed through Constantinople, increas- 
ing in numbers as it went, took Edessa and Antioch, 
entered Jerusalem in 1099, an< ^ ma de Godfrey king. 

The results of this event were manifold and promised 

a mighty revolution in the East. First of all, the success 

of the Christian warriors stimulated in them 

Consequences, the desire for further aggressive steps against 

the Mohammedans. The plan of a march 

against Bagdad was conceived, and awaited reinforcements 

from Europe in order to be practically tried. A Latin 

patriarchate was established in connection with the Latin 

kingdom of Jerusalem. Finally, in order to sustain the 

new kingdom, new orders of knights were established. 

One order had already existed in Palestine for fifty years, 

having as its object the entertainment and protection of 

pilgrims. This was the Order of the Knights 

Or n dfrs tly of St# J onn > also called Hospitalers, or 

Brethren of the Hospital, from the name of 
their house, which was designated the Hospital of St. John 
the Baptist. Two new orders were now organized, viz. 
the order of the Templars (n 18), so called from the loca- 
tion of their house by the side of the temple in Jeru- 
salem, and the German, or Teutonic Knights, founded 
by citizens of Bremen and Lubeck (1190), as a hospital. 
These orders, recruited from among the ranks of the 
bold and adventurous, were destined to bring to view a 
new aspect of the spirit of chivalry. 

But the Latin kingdom in the Holy Land was weakened 
by constant losses, and, in spite of accessions, found it- 
self hard pressed by the Mohammedans. To 
Second Crusade. av ert the calamity of its fall Bernard of Clair- 
vaux went through Europe preaching a second 



WARS OF THE CHURCH AGAINST INFIDELS AND HERETICS. 167 

crusade (1147). Louis VII. of France and Conrad 
III. of Germany led a vast host against the Saracens, 
aiming to take Damascus and make it the bulwark of the 
Latin kingdom. But dissensions among the crusaders, 
and treachery, made the expedition a disastrous failure. 

In A. D. 1 187 Saladdin, the king of the Saracens, once 
more took possession of the Holy Sepulcher. Dissensions 

were at once set aside in Europe when this 
Third Crusade, became known, and the three most prominent 

potentates of Christendom, Richard Cceur de 
Lion of England, Philip Augustus of France, and Fred- 
erick Barbarossaof the empire, united in the most brilliant 
of the crusades. But it seemed impossible for them to 
repress jealousies and quarrels for any length of time. 
Moreover, Saladdin, against whom they came, was a man 
of genius, and thus the result of the expedition was that, 
after securing freedom for Christians from taxation and 
from molestation in visiting the holy city, they dis- 
persed. 

A fourth expedition was organized in 1204, but was 
diverted by Dandolo, doge of Venice, into an attack 

on the Byzantine empire. Constantinople was 
Fourth Crusade, taken by the crusaders, and a Latin empire 

founded lasting nearly half a century. 
The fifth of the crusades was led by Frederick II. 
(1229), under very inauspicious circumstances. He had 

promised to lead this crusade, but as he de- 
Fifth Crusade, layed to perform his promise, having started 

and returned after a three days' sail, on 
the ground of an epidemic in his fleet, the pope excommu- 
nicated him. When he again led the crusade, this excom- 
munication hampered him so that he was satisfied to 
secure by negotiations the cession of Bethlehem and Naz- 
areth and a ten years' truce, and returned to Europe. 

In 1249 Louis IX. of France directed a sixth cru- 
sade against Egypt as a way of approach into the Holy 

Land. He succeeded so far as to occupy 
Sixth and Damietta, but was presently taken prisoner and 

crusades. purchased his freedom from the Mamelukes 

for 800,000 byzantines. Finally, the last of 



1 68 CHURCH HISTORY. 

the crusades against the Mohammedans was led, like the 
sixth, by Louis IX. This time Louis made Tunis his 
point of attack. But a pestilence broke out in his camp 
and carried off half of his army. He himself died during 
the campaign, and with him the active expression of cru- 
sading zeal came to an end. 

The crusades were neither an unmixed evil nor a pure 
benefit to the Church and the world. While much fanat- 
icism was evolved by them, and much waste 
G( ?°d and and misery caused, there accrued, on the other 
hand, some signal advantages, The ills of the 
feudal system were mitigated in a measure. A common 
aim and companionship among strangers united those 
who before were separated and cherished enmity towards 
one another. The superfluous energy of adventurous 
spirits was employed, and thus, as Bernard said, "The 
State was no less benefited in losing the warriors than the 
Church in gaining them." Moreover, lessons in organ- 
ization and military' discipline were learned that could 
not fail of being useful later. And, finally, the spirit of 
commerce and intercourse was stimulated, and the general 
stagnation of Europe was broken up. 

Another undertaking of the Church, commonly called a 
crusade, was the persecution of the sect of the Cathari, in 
the south of France (1208-1213). These are 
Cmsade Sian a ^ so ca ^ ec ^ Albigenses, from the city Albi in 
which with its vicinity, they flourished. They 
were a sect of dualists, who also insisted on purity of life. 
Their cause was espoused by Raymond VI., count of Tou- 
louse. The legate of the pope, Peter of Castelnau, under- 
taking to exercise civil authority within the jurisdiction 
of Raymond, came in conflict with him. When, later, he 
was assassinated, this was laid to the charge of the Albi- 
genses ; Raymond himself was accused of complicity in 
the crime, and the papal force under Arnold of Citeaux 
and Simon de Montfort invaded the region inhabited by 
the Albigensians and waged a bloody and cruel war on 
them. 

Quite different was the conflict of the Church with the 
Waldenses. These took their name from Peter Waldo, 



WARS OF THE CHURCH AGAINST INFIDELS AND HERETICS. 1 69 

of Lyons, who came out as a preacher of a return to the 
pure teaching of Scripture, in the middle of the 
Waldensians. twelfth century. In accordance with this funda- 
mental principle, he and his followers taught 
that there was no purgatory, that the Church was not in- 
fallible, that laymen were entitled to preach, and that the 
selling of one's goods and the distribution of the proceeds 
to the poor was an act of Christian consecration. Waldo 
himself pursued this course. 

The Waldensians had no intention of leaving the Catho- 
lic Church. They formed a society within the Church, 
and hoped to bring about its reformation from within. 
The archbishop of Lyons at first, and Pope Alexander 
III. later (1179), declared against them. They were 
excommunicated and persecuted, and withdrew into the 
fastnesses of Piedmont in Italy. Here they succeeded in 
evading the authority of the pope and continued to exist 
through the following centuries. 

Another movement away from the beliefs of the Catho- 
lic Church was headed by Peter de Bruys about n 10, 
in the provinces of Languedoc and Provence 
Petrobms- j n France. Peter's followers were called after 
him Petrobrussians. Their distinctive tenets 
as far as known were : (1) that baptism should be admin- 
istered to adult persons ; (2) that the elements in the 
Lord's Supper are and remain material, and serve only as 
signs or emblems of the body and blood of Jesus Christ ; 
(3) that prayers, sacrifices, and good works do not avail 
for the dead ; and (4) that church buildings, images, and 
crosses are unnecessary in the worship of God. 

The Eastern Church was disturbed at this time by a 
sect which made its first appearance in Bulgaria. This 
was the sect of the Bogomiles (Friends of 
Bogomiies. God). They held that the firstborn of God 
was a superhuman being called Satanael. 
This being had created the world ; but being moved to 
pride, he rebelled against the Father, and was rejected 
with a multitude of angels whom he had induced to fol- 
low himself. With this theological basis the sect com- 
bined teachings regarding the Church which were hostile 



170 



church history. 



to its authority, and denied the virtue alleged to exist in 
its ministry and sacraments. These teachings were dis- 
seminated both in the East and the West, and the under- 
mining of Church authority by them was resented and 
the sect was proscribed and persecuted. 



CHAPTER XII. 

MONASTICISM AND SCHOLASTICISM. LEARNING 
AND PIETY. 

Monasticism made marked advances during the 

Middle Ages. As the towns began to exhibit the spirit of 

independence the monastic orders emulated 

Spirit of in- their example. They chose their own abbots, 

dependence. • 

managed their own estates, and generally broke 
loose from episcopal control. This independence of the 
bishops was not inconsistent but rather hopeful to the 
idea of direct subordination to the papacy, and for this 
reason the popes fostered it. Among other privileges 
granted by the papacy to the monasteries were the fol- 
lowing : They were exempted from the payment of tithes ; 
from the jurisdiction of legates ; from excommunication 
by any one lower than the pope ; from the interdict over 
the regions where they were situated. Abbots were per- 
mitted to wear the episcopal ring and gloves. They need 
not attend councils if not summoned by the pope. The 
abbots of Clugny and Vendome were created cardinals. 
These privileges and the influence of great men like Hilde- 
brand elevated the monastic system appreciably. 

Of new orders founded, the Cistercian deserves to be 
named first. Its name is derived from Cistercium (Ci- 

teaux), and it was established by Robert (1098), 
New Orders. as a protest against the corruptions of the idea 

of poverty in Clugny. The order became 
eminent because of the connection with it of Bernard of 
Clairvaux (1113-1153). Bernard was a man of fervent 
piety, a mystic, and therefore an opponent of rationalistic 

171 



172 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



tendencies just coming to the surface, eloquent and en- 
thusiastic and devoted to monasticism, which, for these 
reasons, could not but feel the impulse of his presence in 
its midst. 

Another order was founded at Fontevraud by Robert of 
Ar ii sel (11 00) for men and women. Still another order 

which arose to promise and power was that 
Carth r uS r ans rS ' of the Carthusians, at Chartreuse. This was 

established by Bruno of Cologne (1086), and 
was distinguished for the rigidity of its discipline and for 
insistence on devotional and spiritual exercise. Besides 
these a number of minor orders arose, having specific ob- 
jects as their distinctive features. The order of St. An- 
thony was founded for the relief of the sick. The Trini- 
tarians were organized for the purpose of redeeming 
Christian slaves, and purchased a multitude who had 
been unfortunate enough to be captured and carried off 
into Morocco. The Premonstrants at Premontre devoted 
themselves to the idea of poverty, though this idea was 
supposed to be the basis of almost all monastic orders. 
The multiplication of these orders led the Fourth La- 
teran council (1215), at the suggestion of Innocent III., to 

forbid the formation of any more new ones. 
The Mendicants. But scarcely had the action been taken before 

Innocent saw himself forced to make an 
exception of the case of the Mendicants. Clearly there 
was a new idea in these. Previously, monks had with- 
drawn from the world and through penitence, prayer and 
self-mortification, had sought salvation for themselves ; 
the Mendicants reversed this course and set out to go 
into the world and save others by self-denying labors. 

There were two orders of Mendicants. The Domini- 
can order was conceived by Dominic Guzman (1170- 

1221), a Spanish priest. The spread of Albi- 
Dominican gensianism in the south of France and the 

Order 

inability of the clergy and the older orders of 
monks to deal with it disturbed Dominic. Even the 
crusade against the heretics did not seem to have the 
desired effect. He went to Rome in 12 15 and submitted 
to the pope his plan of a special order of Preaching 



MONASTICISM AND SCHOLASTICISM. 



173 



Brothers, who should traverse the regions infected with 
heresy and induce the heretics to return to the Catholic 
fold. The plan was approved and subsequently the rule 
of poverty put into it. 

The Franciscans were organized by Francis Bernar- 
done (1 182-1226) of Assisi. As a youth Francis had 
been gay and worldly. Converted in a seri- 
Franciscan ous illness, he subsequently learned of the 
essence of the gospel as self-denial and 
absolute trust in the providing care of God. He, too, 
like Dominic, went to Rome, in 12 15, with a plan of an 
order based upon his discovery of self-denial and absolute 
trust. Innocent approved this plan also, and the Francis- 
cans went forth as the Begging Brothers. 

The growth of the Mendicant orders was something 
phenomenal. By the middle of the thirteenth century 
they had more than8,ooo houses in the Fran- 
Growth of the ciscan system alone. Moreover, their power 
Orders. also grew so that soon they occupied the fore- 

most places in the universities and exerted a 
powerful influence in the councils of the Church. Among 
the Franciscans there appeared quite early a class of more 
zealous brothers, whose fervid mysticism bordered on fa- 
naticism. They began to teach poverty, not as a. voluntary 
condition, to be assumed by members of the privileged 
Mendicant orders, but as the only normal natural condi- 
tion, and the holding of possessions, on the contrary, as 
a sin in itself. They also predicted the speedy fall of the 
Church as an institution. These were the Minorites, or 
Fraticelli, who, in the following period, were persecuted 
as heretics for the views they held. 

The Church was undoubtedly the repository and patron 
of learning and education through the Middle Ages. It 
founded schools in connection with cathedrals 
The Univer- anc j cloisters, and stimulated study by open- 
ing up the field of the patristic writings to 
scholars. At the same time the legislation of the Church 
had increased in bulk and intricacy so as to require spe- 
cial attention. Thus the schools began to concern them- 
selves with the problems of theology and canon law, and 



174 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



developed into universities. At the beginning of the 
thirteenth century universities are already found fully 
equipped. It is probable, therefore, that their foundation 
dates back to the middle part, if not to the beginning, 
of the twelfth. Bologna became the seat of a university 
where canon law was specially studied, while Paris and 
Oxford appear to have attracted students of theology and 
dialectics. 

A new source of stimulus appears at the same time in 
the Church in the form of oriental Arabic and Jewish 
philosophy. The Arabs became acquainted 
Arabicand w ith the works of Aristotle and adopted his 
toteiianism. system, mixed with Neo-Platonic ideas, and 
modified into consistency with the religion of 
Mohammed. Two forms of Arabian Aristotelianism de- 
veloped — one in the East worked out by Avicenna of 
Bokhara (980-1037), and the other in the West by 
Avarrhoes of Cordova (1126-1198). The Jews also 
became acquainted with Aristotle, no doubt led by the 
Arabs in the East, and a third form of Semitic Aristotel- 
ianism appeared, made up of Jewish thought and Aris- 
totelian philosophy. Solomon ben Gabirol and Moses 
Maimonides stand as the representatives of this system. 
All of these now came in contact with Christianity through 
the Moors and Jews of Spain, and percolated into the 
schools. The Christians began to study Aristotle directly 
in the Greek, and yielded to his influence so far as to use 
his method. 

The first public occasion on which use was made of 

Aristotle's method in the interests of Christian theology 

was the trial of Berengarius at the council 

IdfoiSticism °^ Tours ( io 54); from tnat date its influ- 
ence increased until it seemed to dominate 
all thought and resulted in Scholasticism. One of the 
earliest to adopt the new method was Anselm of Canter- 
bury (1033-1109), called by Milman " The real parent 
of mediaeval theology," and by others, " The father 
of systematic theology,'' and " The Augustine of the 
Middle Ages." Anselm was not only a keen dialectician, 
but also a man of devout spirit, and a searcher for the 



MONASTICISM AND SCHOLASTICISM. 



175 



truth. He rendered service to the cause of theology in 
several particulars. First, he elaborated the argument 
for the existence of God, which bears his name ; secondly, 
he vindicated Realism against Roscellinus and the Nom- 
inalists ; and thirdly, he elaborated the theory of the 
atonement, which has been recognized by the Church 
since his day as the most satisfactory exposition of the 
Scriptural teaching on the subject. This theory, known 
sometimes as the Anselmic theory of the atonement, is 
found in the Cur Dens Homo, and grounds the saving 
work of Christ in the divine justice. One of the most 
brilliant of the scholastics was Peter Abelard (1079- 
1142), From his first appearance in the circle of medie- 
val scholars Abelard displayed those characteristics 
which made his subsequent career so chequered and 
stormy. Gifted with exceptional talents himself, he was 
impatient with mediocrity, not only in his equals, but also 
in his teachers. He confuted the ill-digested state- 
ments of these, and thereby incurred their enmity. As a 
teacher, himself, he showed the same disre- 
Abeiard. spect for the teachings of the Church as he 

had shown as a pupil in the schools. He 
wrote a treatise entitled Sic et Non, in which, selecting 
158 subjects, he showed that the Church had expressed 
herself in contradictory terms on them (answering yes 
and no to the same question). He found an implacable 
enemy to his rationalistic tendencies in the mystic Ber- 
nard of Clairvaux (1091-1153). His views 
Bernard of were officially condemned. His illicit rela- 

Clairvaux. . J . . • i i i 

tion to Heloise was brutally punished by 
her uncle, Foulbert, and he was himself compelled to 
spend the last years of his life under a cloud in the 
monastery. 

Much less known than Abelard, but a keen dialecti- 
cian and rationalistic thinker, was Gilbert of Porree 
(1070-1154). Gilbert had the faculty of so 
Porrle ° f stating his views that, though they were sus- 
pected of unsoundness and tried before a 
council, he was not condemned, because the pope himself 
confessed that he did not quite understand the views, 



176 CHURCH HISTORY. 

and Gilbert readily recognized the authority of the Church 
and professed to agree with the council. 

With Bernard of Clairvaux, already mentioned as a 
mystic and a man of fervid religious feeling, there emerges 

a shade of scholasticism of a different type. 
Bernard. Bernard was surnamed the Doctor MelUfluus. 

He laid down the proposition that God is to 
be known by prayer rather than by disputation. Tantum 
Deus cognoscitur quantum diligitur. With this standpoint 
agreed in a measure also William of Champeaux, who 

founded the school of St. Victor. The great- 
st h vktor est ex P onent °f this school was Hugo (1097- 

1141) surnamed, of St. Victor. Hugo held 
that what one is, is the measure of his insight into truth ; 
and, secondly, that man can only know God by loving 
him. He was followed by able successors in the head- 
ship of the school in the persons of Richard and Walter 
of St. Victor. The mystic principle was further unfolded 
and applied by these, and the two wings of scholasticism 
drifted further apart. 

The tendency to mediate between the dialectic and the 
mystic types of scholasticism was the natural product of 

the widening gulf. There were, naturally, 
Peter Lom- men w h saw the truth in each, and who strove 

to combine the good out of both wings, and 
thus lead into a middle w r ay. The most eminent represent- 
ative of these was Peter Lombard (1100-1164), lecturer at 
the university of Paris, and afterwards bishop of the see 
of Paris. In his book of Sentences Peter compiled the 
opinions of the ancient fathers on theological subjects in 
such a skillful way as to secure for himself the place of 
an authority, and for his book that of a text book for 
three centuries after his death. 

The blending of the two wings of scholasticism resulted 
in the increased hold of Aristotle on the theologians. 

This result was not, however, attained without 
Alexander of a struggle and an effort in the opposite direc- 
tion. A pantheistic interpretation of Aristotle 
by Amalric of Bena was condemned by a synod assent 
bled at Paris in 1209. The works of Aristotle were also 



MONASTICISM AND SCHOLASTICISM. 



177 



prohibited by the same synod. Nevertheless, Alexander 
of Hales ( 1 185 ?-i2 45), Doctor Irrefragabilis, through his 
commentaries, was instrumental in having them restored to 
the favor of the pope. His Sutnma Theologica, or system 
of theology, worked out on Aristotelian principles, became 
a model for other works on theology. 

From another point of view the influence of John of Salis- 
bury (1 1 1 5 ?— 1 182), had the effect of stimulating the love of 
classical learning, while that of Albertus Mag- 
johnofSaiis- nus (1153-1280), Doctor Universalis, broad- 
tus Magnus. ened the horizon of students by including in 
it natural science. Albert was a Dominican 
monk and a close student of Aristotle. He had studied 
theology as well as cabalistic and natural science, and 
was particularly attracted by the study of God's works in 
nature. His genius was versatile and his reputation for 
learning very great. It is due to his labors, at least in 
part, that scholasticism attained, during the middle 
of the thirteenth century, the highest point in its 
course, under Thomas Aquinas, Bonaventura and Duns 
Scotus. 

Thomas Aquinas (122 7-1 2 74), Doctor Angelicas, was 
the descendant of high aristocratic ancestors, and dur- 
ing the troublous times of the Guelph-Ghi- 
Thomas belline feud, he was desired by his parents 

Aquinas. . - . .»• **r n 

to enter into secular and military life. But 
he was drawn to the Church, and eventually joined the 
Dominican order. He studied under Albert at Cologne, 
and later taught at Rome, Bologna, Pisa, and Naples. 
His love of work and his application were excessive. He 
w r on for himself the highest place as an authority on 
Catholic systematic theology. His works (Sumtna theolo- 
gica, Siimma phylosophica contra gentiles, and Catena aurea) 
are monuments of dialectic acumen as well as of sincere 
piety. 

Bonaventura (1221-1274), Doctor Seraphicus, was a 
Franciscan of the purest moral character and of great 

ability. He became professor of theology at 
Bonaventura. Paris in 1 253, general of the Franciscans in 

1256, bishop of Albano in 1273, and cardinal 
12 



i 7 8 CHURCH HISTORY. 

shortly before his death in 1274. He was a friend of 
Aquinas, inclined towards the mystical tendency which 
he, in a manner, again separated from the main stream 
of scholasticism by his summing up the problem of re- 
ligion in the figure of "the soul in exile from God 
seeking the way, and in the gospel shown it, back to 
God." 

John Duns Scot us (12 65- 1308), Doctor Subtilis was 
characterized by abnormal acuteness. He entered the 

Franciscan order, and appeared as the oppo- 
Duns Scotus. nent in theology of Thomas Aquinas, the chief 

representative of the rival order of Domini- 
cans. More interested in arguments than in doctrines, 
he elaborated the theory of the immaculate conception of 
the Virgin Mary, taught that the atonement of Christ was 
gratuitously accepted by the Father, and did not neces- 
sarily work out a satisfaction of justice, ascribed an 
arbitrary will to God, and considered individuality a per- 
fection. Upon all these points Thomas had taught the 
very opposite theories. There arose, accordingly, a con- 
troversy, in which the followers of the two theologians, 
under the names of Thomists and Scotists, carried on 
their discussions on these subtleties for generations fol- 
lowing. 

A slight reaction against the speculative element in 
scholasticism manifested itself in Roger Bacon (1214- 

1294), Doctor Mirabilis. Without distinctly 
Roger Bacon* abandoning dialectics Roger Bacon attempted 

to make a place for the empirical method. 
He studied language, history, and especially natural 
science and mathematics. He was encouraged in his 
work in a measure by Clement IV. but on account of ar- 
rogance and extreme plainness of speech he was twice 
imprisoned. 

Finally, Raimond Lull (1234-13^5), Doctor Illumina- 
fus, though more distinguished as a zealous missionary 

than as a scholastic, must be named in this 
Raymond Lull, connection for his deviation in the sphere of 

learning from the path trodden by the scholars 
of his time. He sought by a simpler, though somewhat 



MONASTICISM AND SCHOLASTICISM. j 79 

mechanical method, to arrange all knowledge in a new 
scheme of science. This he called Ars Magna. As a 
missionary he twice sailed from his native Majorca for 
Tunis and Algiers, there to preach Christianity and con- 
fute Averrhoism as a philosophy and Mohammedanism 
as a religion. On a third missionary tour he was mortally 
wounded on occasion of the outburst of fanatical zeal 
against his teaching. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 

Boniface VIII. (1294-1303), on assuming the papal 
office, sought to raise it once more to the position 

of influence it occupied under Innocent III. 
Boniface viii. As a man Boniface was bold and keen, and 
Fair. * ip * e had thoroughly acquainted himself with the 

general political situation. He adopted Hilde- 
brand's ideals and ventured to enforce his authority over 
princes. When complaints came to him from the clergy 
of France and England that the Church and clergy were 
being taxed for military purposes, he issued the bull 
Clericis Laicos, forbidding this taxation on pain of ex- 
communication. In Italy, he made his power felt by 
exiling the ancient and influential family of the Colonna, 
and thus incurred their implacable enmity. He reproved 
Philip the Fair of France for seizing on ecclesiastical 
property. For a time it seemed as if the high-handed 
administration of the papacy by Innocent III. was about 
to be duplicated. Boniface was made the arbitrator of a 
dispute between Philip of France and Edward of Eng- 
land. But Philip did not mean to yield obedience to the 
pope. He declared that in secular affairs the king of 
France is subject to no one. The pope issued the bull 
Unam Sanctam, in which he claimed that both secular 
and spiritual authority are committed to the bishop of 
Rome, though the former is to be wielded for the Church 
by the State, without, however, a forfeiture of the right to 
direct as to how and by whom. Hence every creature 
180 



THE DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 181 

must obey the pope, or else forfeit salvation. The king 
had the pope seized and confined in prison, where he 
died. 

Benedict XI. (1303-1304) made peace with Philip, 
but only nine months after the time of his assump- 
tion of office, he died suddenly and was 
Removal to succeeded by a Frenchman, Clement V. 
(1305-1314). Clement was a creature of the 
French king, and yielding to the desire of the king to free 
the papacy from Italian influence, he settled down in the 
city of Avignon instead of taking up his abode, like all 
his predecessors, at Rome. 

The transfer of the papacy to the French city of Avi- 
gnon marks the beginning of a period of seventy years 
which has been called the " Babylonian Cap- 
Babyioniati t ; v i ty f t h e Papacy/* from the fact that its 

Captivity of J . r 1 1 1 ii 

the Papacy. duration was of the same length as the dura- 
tion of the exile of the Jews in Babylonia. It 
is a period of general decline and loss of prestige. The 
pope, with whom it begins, continued as he began, a rather 
unwilling tool in the hands of the French king. He did 
indeed recognize Henry of Luxemburg as emperor after 
he w r as elevated to that dignity, contrary to the wishes of 
king Philip, but he had previously exerted himself in 
behalf of Philip's candidate against Henry. In other 
matters, he carried out, with more or less reluctance, the 
desires of the king. He interpreted away the deliver- 
ances of Boniface VIII. as to the relations of Church and 
State, by making France an exception to them. He re- 
moved all personal ecclesiastical discipline on the king. 
He joined in the struggle against the order of the Templar 
Knights, and finally suppressed the order, not on the 
ground of charges proved against them, but for the good 
of the public. The king's attitude towards the Templars 
was that of one who feared their great power and wealth 
as an organization and desired their suppression by any 
available means. He brought against them charges of 
heresy, blasphemy and immorality, and extracted confes- 
sions from some members of the order by the use of 
torture, but when, on a closer investigation by the com- 



1 82 CHURCH HISTORY. 

mission of the council of Vienne (13 11), these charges 
were proved to be groundless, he was satisfied with 
the bare suppression of the order without special 
cause. 

Under John XXII. (1316-1334), who succeeded 
Clement V., a new feud between the papacy and the 

empire broke out. After a conflict with Fred- 
Feud with the erick of Austria, Louis of Bavaria assumed 

control of the empire without the consent of 
the pope. For this he was anathematized, but brought 
counter charges against the pope, and appealed to a 
future council and a legitimate pope. This feud John 
bequeathed to his successor, Benedict XII. (1334- 
1342). Benedict, however, was of a pacific disposition, 
and would have been reconciled to Louis and even re- 
turned to Rome had he been permitted by the French 
king. 

The steady gains of the empire in its struggle with 
the papacy, found expression in 1356, in an imperial 

decree, called the Golden Bull, in which the 
Golden Bull, independence of the empire was distinctly 

asserted and the Electoral College was de- 
fined. This college was to have the absolute power of 
choosing the emperors and was to consist of seven eccle- 
siastical and secular princes, viz., the archbishop of 
Cologne, the archbishop of Treves, the archbishop of 
Mayence, the king of Bohemia, the duke of Saxony, the 
margrave of Brandenburg and the count Palatine of the 
Rhine. The effect of the Golden Bull was to prevent 
further disputes regarding the succession, and consequent 
appeals to the pope to decide between the contesting can- 
didates for the imperial crown. 

Thus the feud was prolonged into the papacy of Clem- 
ent VI. (1342-1352), who created a rival emperor. 

Meantime the spirit of discontent began to 
Rienzi. brew in EiTrope, especially in England and 

Italy. In the latter country Rienzi for a time 
held sway under a revival of the old republican form of 
government. The popes continued to rule the Church 
from Avignon. Innocent VI. (1352— 1362) bent his 



THE DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 183 

energies to reducing the use made of the Church by 
princes for their own secular ends. Urban V. (1362- 

1370) broke the Babylonian captivity by an 
End of the effort to return to Rome. But this proved 

to be a visit rather than a return home. He 
was persuaded by his cardinals to go back to Avignon. 
Gregory XI. (1370-1378), finally yielding to the influ- 
ence of Catherine of Sienna, did put an end to the exile, 
in spite of the clamors of the cardinals who wished him 
to stay in the French city (1377). 

Urban VI. (1378-1389), was elected by the cardi- 
nals on the distinct understanding that he would go to 

Avignon again. As he declined, after his 
The Great election, to take this step, the French cardi- 

Schism. . .. i'ii •• ri 

nals constituting a decided majority of the 
college, withdrew in a body and elected Clement VII., 
at Avignon, and declared the election of Urban illegal. 
Urban appointed new cardinals in their places, and thus 
with two popes and two colleges of cardinals, a schism 
was effected which lasted forty years (1378-1417). 

The healing of this schism now became the great care 
of those who loved the Church and its peace. The Uni- 
versity of Paris took the initiative in the effort 
Attempts to to bring about a reunion, and proposed a plan 
Breach. to the king. Urban was succeeded by Boni- 

face IX. (1389-1404), at Rome ; Clem- 
ent by Benedict XIII. (1394-1433), at Avignon. In 
the midst of increasing confusion popes succeeded one 
another at Rome, until an ecumenical council was called 
at Pisa in 1409. The ruling spirit of this council 
proved to be Gerson, , of the University of Paris. 
Gregory XII. (1406-1409) was the Roman pope. The 
council bound itself not to dissolve until ecclesiasti- 
cal reforms were effected. Alexander V. (1 409-1410) 
was elected pope, while the two rival popes (Benedict 
XIII. and Gregory XII.) were declared schismatics and 
heretics and were deposed. Alexander promised to insti- 
tute reforms in the Church, and in some minor matters ful- 
filled his promise, but did not go far enough. The rival 
popes still held to their claims and the Church saw itself 



1 84 CHURCH HISTORY. 

as at the end of the Tusculan domination, subject to three 
heads. Alexander, however, died in 1410, and his 
place was filled by John XXIII. (1410-1415). John 
was known as a crafty, daring and dissolute man, and all 
hope of reform was given up as long as he should hold the 
papacy. The difficulty was solved finally by the emperor 
Sigismund, who summoned a council at Constance. 

The Council of Constance (1414-1418) is the six- 
teenth ecumenical, and one of the most memorable in 
the history of the Church. In attendance 
Council of it was the largest ever held. It brought into 

Constance. . 

the imperial city a concourse of 18,000 priests 
and over 100,000 strangers. It condemned John Huss to 
be burned at the stake and settled the schism by taking 
measures against the rival popes. John XXIII. was 
brought to trial for his crimes, of which there were enumer- 
ated as many as seventy. He was deposed, and sen- 
tenced to imprisonment for life. Gregory XII. was also 
deposed, and, having submitted to this sentence, was 
made bishop of Porto. Benedict was also deposed as a 
heretic, but kept up an ineffectual and insignificant resist- 
ance for some time. The new pope elected by the coun- 
cil was Martin V. (141 7-143 1). He also, on assum- 
ing office, proved truant to the council and refused to 
carry out its plans in the matter of reforms. Demands 
for reforms continued, and two local councils at Pavia and 
Sienna (1423-1424) gave him occasion by the small 
attendance mustered, to prosecute a dilatory process and 
relegate the whole matter to a larger council at Basel. 

The Council of Basel was the seventeenth ecumenical 
(143 1). Martin having died before the council met, 

his successor Eugenius IV. (1431-1447), 
Council of organized it. Two objects were put before the 
So S vaito Re " assembly : first, the extermination of heretics, 
Florence. and second, the purification of the Church. 

As to the latter the council went beyond the 
desires of the pope. Accordingly a decree was issued 
removing the seat of the council from Basel to Ferrara 
(1437), and thence subsequently to Florence. Some 
refused to go to Ferrara and held sessions at Basel. 






THE DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 185 

These the pope excommunicated. They in return insti- 
tuted legal proceedings against him and deposed him 
(1439), electing Felix V. in his place. But the au- 
thority of Felix was acknowledged by only a small 
fraction of the Church. But the schism was not allowed 
to grow. The emperor, Frederick III., mediated between 
the parties, and found in this work an able aid in the 
secretary of the council, ./Eneas Silvius Piccolomini. 
This talented man came to prominence during the 
sessions of the council and opposed the pope's plan of 
removing it to Ferrara. At his suggestion now the par- 
ties entered into a compromise, and some of the radical 
reforms were thus abandoned. 

During the period of its sessions at Florence the coun- 
cil undertook the difficult task of reuniting the Greek and 
Roman branches of Christendom. A basis 
the Eastern 11116 of agreement was reached by the council and 
ch d u W h S s ern assented to by the representatives of the East- 
ern Church. According to its terms the 
" Filioque " was declared a formal deviation from the old 
standards. Both leavened and unleavened bread were 
allowed in the Eucharist ; the doctrine of Purgatory was 
admitted, though no definition of its nature was insisted 
on ; the primacy of the Roman pontiff was conceded, and 
an order agreed upon as to the rank of the Eastern patri- 
archs according to the old canons. These concessions 
were not ratified by the Eastern Church in spite of the 
assent of her delegates at the council, and the agreement 
proved to be a series of empty resolutions. 

The Eastern empire succumbed, soon after this, before 
the aggressive Ottoman Turks. Constantinople fell in 
1453. Meantime Eugenius had successfully diverted the 
energy of the reforming channel and the remarkable 
efforts of the advocates of councils as against popes came 
to an end. 

The fall of Constantinople and the dispersion of a 

large number of educated Greeks in Eastern Europe were 

followed by a revival of learning which could 

Fail of Con- no t fail to touch the Church very speedilv. 

stantinople. r „. . . J *. . J 

I he papacy entered into a new stage of its ex- 



186 CHURCH HISTORY. 

istence which has been properly called the paganized 
stage. The first of the popes of this stage was Nicholas 
V. (1447-1455). Nicholas was a lover of classical 
learning, and had no intention of infusing into the high 
ecclesiastical office he held the spirit of ancient paganism, 
but his patronage of the classics naturally brought about 
this result. He made a large collection of manuscripts 
which later grew into the famous Vatican library. 

Calixtus III. (1455-1458) was the first Borgia to 

ascend the papal throne, and distinguished himself for 

crusading zeal and nepotism. As to crusad- 

CrusJdin° f m & enter P r ^ se > tne ^ a ^ °f Eastern Christendom 
and the threatening attitude of the Turks 
against the whole of Europe revived the spirit of pride 
for Christianity and hatred of unbelievers, and it became 
an ambition and an all-absorbing subject of effort in the 
Church to expel the enemy of the cross from soil formerly 
occupied by Christians. Pius II. (1458-1464), (the 
^Eneas Silvius Piccolomini of the council of Basel), him- 
self headed an expedition against the Turks but died on 
the way at Venice. Pius also seems to have undergone 
a transformation as he assumed the papacy; for instead 
of advocating as he did at Basel the subordination of the 
popes to the councils, he now appears in the light of a 
most zealous believer in the supremacy of the pope. 

His successor, Paul II. (1 464-1 471), was the first of 
four popes who have been called the wicked popes. He 
was pompous and avaricious and an enemy of 
The wicked learning. Sixtus IV. (1 471-1484) and the 
two who came after him treated their posi- 
tion as not even indirectly related with Christianity as a 
religious and moral system. As far as their conduct in- 
dicates, they might have been ignorant of the existence 
of the simplest and most elementary teachings of the 
gospel. Sixtus is reported to have had sixteen illegiti- 
mate children whose interests he advanced, using his 
office to this end. He implicated himself in quarrels 
with the Medici in Florence and made an unsuccessful 
appeal for a crusade. 

Innocent VIII. (1484-1492) followed in the foot- 



THE DECLINE OF THE PAPACY. 1 87 

steps of his predecessors in immorality, as also in the 
ai x nder vi e ^ ort to rouse tne Church to a crusade. But 
the lowest depth of degradation of the papacy 
was reached in Alexander VI. (1493-1503), previously 
Roderigo Borgia. The sole aim of Alexander in secur- 
ing the papacy seemed to be the foundation of an in- 
dependent kingdom for his family. He lived in open 
illicit relation with a concubine, Rosa Vanozza, and 
without apparent compunctions used his place to promote 
the interests of his son, Caesar Borgia, whom he even made 
bishop and archbishop. The vices of Caesar were equal 
to those of his father. He threw off the clerical garb in 
order that he might the more freely run his career of 
crime. He is said to have mixed the cup of poison which 
his father drank by mistake and from which he died. 

Pius III. (1503), the immediate successor of Alex- 
ander, reigned only a short time. Julius II. (1503- 
15 13), a nephew of Sixtus IV., was a man of 
military talents which he used in freeing Italy 
from the rule of petty tyrants — among others the in- 
famous Caesar Borgia. He also convened an ecumenical 
council at the Lateran, the eighteenth ecumenical (15 12), 
which pronounced against simony in the election of 
popes. The last of the popes before the Reformation 
was Leo X. (1513-1521), previously Giovanni Medici, 
the son of Lorenzo the Magnificent. By natural en- 
dowment and education Leo was a lover of art. He at 
once became the patron of learning and encouraged edu- 
cation in the liberal arts. But he also inherited some of 
the extravagance and love of display which characterized 
his father. In this way he used all the revenues of the 
papacy. As a manager he showed great skill in playing 
off Spain against France, and succeeded in inducing 
Francis I. to give up the pragmatic sanction in return for 
the promise of Milan. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 

This period witnessed a revolution in scholasticism. 
While the debate between the Thomists and the Scotists 

went on and men like Thomas Bradwardine 
Scholasticism. (i 290-1349) worked in the spirit of Aquinas 

and fought the Pelagianism that had found 
its way into the Church, scholastic learning became 
diversified by the development on one side of secular 
and natural science, and on the other of a strongly pro- 
nounced mysticism. 

The old question between realism and nominalism 
was revived by William of Occam (i 280-1349), who in 

spite of the professed realism of the Church, 
wuiiam of taught a form of nominalism (sometimes 

called conceptualism). Occam was a Fran- 
ciscan and a disciple of Scotus. He denied the existence 
of universal ideas except in the mind. Hence theology 
may not be an exact science. The pope may err, as also 
may councils.. All the hierarchy may be given up if the 
Church require it. The emperor may appoint or depose 
the pope. These views Occam was able to teach from 
Munich under the protection of Louis of Bavaria. 

At the same time, and under the protection of the 
same monarch, Marsilius of Padua (1275-1342) in the 

Defensor Pads taught a more thoroughgoing 

ecclesiastico-political theory. The Church, 
Marsilius of according to this author, is a spiritual body 

having no judicial or punitive functions. The 



Padua. 



LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. 189 

clergy can only teach, warn, counsel. All priests are 
equal. Christian communities have the right to appoint 
their own pastors and bishops. Holy Scripture is the 
only source of faith. 

The revolutionary views of Occam were finally com- 
bined by the last of the scholastics — Gabriel Biel 

(? 1495) — w ^ n tne deliverances of the 

Gabriel Biel. council of Constance and Basel, and dissem- 
inated, to the detriment of the idea of papal 
infallibility and the exaltation of the authority of coun- 
cils. 

Mysticism broke loose from the scholastic method 

with Meister Eckart (1260-1327). Eckart's theory of 

knowledge is fundamental to his mode of 

Mysticism. thought. Knowledge is the union of know- 

Eckart 

ing subject and object known. Full knowl- 
edge of God is the result of absorption in the divine 
essence. This was too subtle to be popularly under- 
stood at the time, but it had the charm of religious 
fervor which always attracts. 

John Tauler (1290-1361), starting as a Dominican 
monk, adopted Eckart's mysticism, but purged it of its 
pantheistic tendency and gave it a practical 
Tauler. turn. He labored in Strasburg and Cologne 

BaseL aS as a preacher, and though his mysticism often 

roused the suspicions of his contemporaries, 
his sermons and his treatise on the Imitation of the Pov- 
erty of Christ indicate no tendency to swerve from the 
beaten path. To Tauler has sometimes been ascribed 
The Master's Book, giving an account of the author's 
conversion, but it was perhaps a work of Nicholas of 
Basel, a member of the sect called The Friends of 
God, who was burned for heresy at the beginning of the 
fifteenth century. 

Henry Suso (1295-1366) cultivated with great dil- 
igence the emotional element in his religious nature. 
He made for himself an allegory in which 
Henry Suso. wisdom became the object of his love. Per- 
sonifying wisdom, he sought to win her as a 
bride through mortification and suffering. He was closely 



190 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



associated with Eckart and was partially won over by 

Eckart from exaggerated self-tortures. But he continued 

to live under the spell of warm religious feeling which to 

the end worked on his imagination. 

John Ruysbroek (1 298-1386) was also under the 

influence of Eckart. He expounded his mystical con- 
templations in the Flemish language. He 

john^Ruys- was preserved by a sound moral nature from 
extravagance, though he lived by preference 

in solitude, spent his time in religious meditation, and 

acquired great reputation and influence. 

All the above named mystics emanate from Eckart's 

circle and are careful to maintain their connection and 
own their allegiance to the Church Catholic. 

'V 3 ?^ ^, riends A much larger number whose individual iden- 

of God." • -, 1 ^ 1 , 

tity has been lost were not as scrupulous 
about their association with the Church, considering it 
corrupt and liable to the visitation of the wrath of God. 
These formed the ascetic contemplative sect of The 
Friends of God. 

Finally, from indifference to the authority of the Church 
mysticism passed into actual denial of the truth of its 
teachings and opposition to the established moral and 
religious order in the sect of the Brethren of the Spirit. 
These denied the existence of God apart from the world, 
deified human nature, and asserted its independence and 
the sovereignty of the human spirit, and therefore the 
injuriousness of ecclesiastical laws. 

Another type of mysticism is represented in Thomas a 
Kempis who flourished a century later than Eckart 
(1380-1471). A Kempis gave himself to the 
Thomas a contemplation of the divine character as re- 
vealed in the Bible. His object was to lead 
men to Christ as the Truth by a process of quiet com- 
munion. His work on the Imitation of Christ has taken 
its place among religious classics and exercised a vast 
influence for good, having passed through thousands of 
editions. 

Natural science had been cultivated before this age 
only incidentally by individuals, such as Albertus Magnus 



LITERATURE AND PHILOSOPHY. i 9I 

and Roger Bacon. Though no tendency appears even 
at this time to enter this field in earnest, yet 
Natural Science. ^e bearings of a study of nature on questions 
SaWd". ° of theology are realized by Raymond of 
Sabunde (fl. 1435), wno wr °te Liber Naturce 
sire Creaturum (1435). ^ 1S theory is that God's first 
revelation is to be read in nature. Sin and the fall only 
make a direct revelation in the Scriptures necessary. 

Biblical learning also remained, as in the ages past, 

a comparatively barren field. In Nicholas de Lyra (? 1270 

1352), however, a new principle began to be 

Biblical Learn- seen [ n the interpretation of the Scriptures. 

mg. Nicholas T i r • i r 1 

de Lyra. Instead of resorting to the ancient fathers to 

sfaSHensis learn the contents of the Bible, Nicholas goes 

to the Bible itself. And here, instead of look- 
ing for figurative and allegorical meanings, he seeks for 
the literal and historical sense. Faber Stapulensis 
(1455-1537), going a step further, departs from the usage 
of making the Vulgate version the basis of study and re- 
verts to the Scriptures in the original languages. 

While the intellectual movement within the Church was 
thus towards the broadening of the scholasticism of the 

preceding age, a mighty revolution was going 
The Renais- on outside the Church. This has been termed 

the Renaissance (Renascence or Revival of 
Learning). Various factors and forces conspired at this 
time to bring about the change. The mariner's compass 
had been, no doubt, used in Europe before this age, but 
its use became more common now, rendering travel and 
the exchange of opinions easy. The invention of gun- 
powder also had more than one indirect effect on human 
living and thinking. But the most forcible impulse to 
the change was given by the printing press (1450). 
Coming as this does nearly at the same time as the dif- 
fusion of Greek learning which followed the capture of 
Constantinople, it served as a swift vehicle for the trans- 
mission of those ideas which the renewed study of 
Greek authors could not but bring before the minds of 
men. 

Classical ideals and ideas, as far as the knowledge of 



I 9 2 CHURCH HISTORY. 

the Latin only could furnish them, were already before the 
Italians at the time of Dante (i 265-1321), 
Reuchiin. Petrarch (1304-1374), and Boccaccio (13 13- 

1375). But it was after the fall of the East- 
ern empire that a Platonic academy was formed in Flor- 
ence under Cosimo de Medici (1389-1464). Marsilius 
Ficinu (1433-1499) translated Plato into Latin, and Pico 
de la Mirandola (1463-1494) devised his scheme of recon- 
ciliation between the Platonic and Aristotelian systems, as 
well as between philosophy and religion. These studies 
mark the beginning of humanism in literature. From 
Italy it passed into Germany. Among its first dissemina- 
tors was Rudolf Agricola (1 443-1485). Through his 
friend, the bishop of Worms, Agricola was instrumental 
in commending humanism to the German Church. The 
bishop of Worms brought to the front John Reuchiin, one 
of the most enthusiastic scholars of the age. Reuchiin 
(1455-1522) learned Hebrew of a Jew and wrote a 
Hebrew grammar, thus becoming the father of Hebrew 
lore among modern Christians. Soon the adherents of 
the new movement were carried away by pagan ideas 
to the extent of denying many positions held firmly in the 
Church, and were fiercely attacked by the monks. As 
the humanists made their appeal to the Greek and 
Hebrew Scriptures, the monks demanded the destruction 
of all Hebrew writings except the Old Testament Scrip- 
tures. For this the) 7 " were called obscurantists, and 
mercilessly caricatured by the humanists. 

One of the most active in this warfare between humanism 
and obscurantism was Desiderius Erasmus (1457-1536), a 
man of the keenest sensibility as well as of 
Erasmus wide learning and an assiduous worker. Eras- 

mus distinguished himself as the editor of 
many of the ancient fathers, and especially for first 
putting into printed form before the public the Greek 
Testament (15 16). In England humanism was repre- 
sented by John Colet, dean of St. Paul's, and Thomas 
More the author of the Utopia, in which he describes 
an ideal state constructed on rational principles. 



CHAPTER XV. 

SPIRITUAL LIFE. 

Boniface VIII. was the originator of the idea of jubi- 
lees. In order to celebrate the close of the thirteenth 
century fittingly at Rome, he proclaimed the 
The Jubilee, year 1300 a jubilee and promised absolu- 
tion from all their sins to all who should in 
penitence visit the churches of the apostles. This brought 
a concourse of 200,000 people into Rome and proved a 
large source of revenue to the holy see. The example 
of Boniface was, therefore, followed by his successors in 
after years. At first every fiftieth, and later every twenty- 
fifth year were proclaimed jubilee years. Instead of 
actual attendance at Rome, however, for the sake of ob- 
taining absolution, the payment into the Church's treas- 
ury of the cost of the journey was permitted as sufficient. 
The influence of this system was to strengthen the pop- 
ular belief in the efficacy of penance, and set out more 
clearly the Church's doctrine of indulgences. 

The doctrine of indulgences matured during the pre- 
vious age. According to the principle underlying it the 
Church imposes a penalty for every confessed 
Indulgences, sin. But such penalty can be transmuted 
from a work involving humiliation and suffer- 
ing into the payment of a sum of money into the Church's 
treasury. At first indulgences were granted in remission 
of only part of the penalty imposed ; afterwards they 
were issued as plenary remission for the whole of the 
penalty ; and, finally, at the end of the period, it became 
the custom to give them in anticipation of the commission 
of the sin and the imposition of the penance. 

*3 193 



i 9 4 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



In enforcing discipline the Church devised the special 
institution called the Inquisition. The Dominicans took 

charge of the work of hunting out and bring- 
The inquisition, ing to trial heretics, as early as 1235. ^ ne 

secrecy of their procedure and the doubtful 
methods used in securing evidence made the system un- 
popular. In France, Bernard Felicieux protested against 
its admission into the country (1320). Its hold on 
Germany was loose. In Spain, however, it was rigidly 
applied under Ferdinand and Isabella. Its organization 
was brought to the highest perfection under Torquemada 
(1483-1499), who was put at its head ; its scope also 
was broadened, so that not only heretics, but Jews and 
sorcerers were made objects of its search. 

But while the Roman hierarchy tightened its grasp on 
the Church, and the papacy set its face like flint against 

reform, the spirit of discontentment with cor- 
Wyciif. ruption found vent in the preaching of a few 

who rose above fear, and like the prophets of 
the old dispensation, denounced evil in high places. 
Of these precursors of the Reformation the earliest was 
the Englishman, Wyclif. John Wyclif (1320-1384) was 
sprung from a noble family in Yorkshire, educated at Ox- 
ford and became master of Balliol College. The political 
condition of England in his day was favorable to the devel- 
opment of independence from continental control both in 
State and Church. The papacy was under the influence 
of the French, but the French were the national enemies of 
England. To one who could utilize the political feeling the 
way was open for the utterance of many sentiments which 
under other circumstances the hierarchy would have visited 
with swift and severe punishment. Wyclif knew how to 
take advantage of the situation. He used his great ability 
and learning in a warfare against the abuses he saw in the 
Church. The pope, he held, was not infallible. His 
bulls and decrees had no authority except so far as they 
were based on Scripture. The functions of the clergy 
did not include ruling, but service and helping. For 
such views he was condemned by Gregory XI. (1377), 
but protected by Parliament. He was, however, ex- 



SPIRITUAL LIFE. 



195 



eluded from the university (1382) by the Earthquake 
Council and retired to his parish at Lutterworth. His 
increasing love and dependence on the Scriptures led 
him to translate them into English. He was not molested 
by further persecution and died at Lutterworth in 1384/* 
WycliFs books were carried into Bohemia and there 
used by John Huss (1369-1415). Huss was appointed 
professor of philosophy at Prague and began 

John Huss. V. , w *L U ' C 4U ' 

his teaching upon the basis of the views 
of YVyclif. The agitation which followed only spread the 
knowledge and acceptance of Wyclif's views. At this 
juncture a political rupture between the Germans and 
Bohemians promised to issue to the advantage of Huss. 
Wenzel, the king of Bohemia advocated his cause. He 
also gained the support of the able Jerome of Prague. 
The pope did indeed excommunicate him, citing him at 
the same time to appear at Rome ; but the favor of the 
king, together with that of the people, enabled him to go 
on in spite of the pope. Even the archbishop of Prague 
was obliged to tolerate him. When John XXIII. offered 
indulgences for sale, Huss boldly denounced the measure 
as traffic in sin. The pope now resorted to extreme 
measures. He laid Huss' place of residence under the 
interdict. This led the emperor Sigismund to summon 
him to the council of Constance, with the promise of safe- 
conduct thither and back. As Huss had himself made 
his appeal " to a council, to Christ and to God," he felt 
constrained to go. The council condemned his teachings 
as heretical, the emperor failed to carry out the promise 
of safe-conduct, and Huss and his companion Jerome 
were burned at the stake. 

* But bis remains were later exhumed, burned, and the ashes thrown into a brook 
tributary to the Avon, a fact which Wordsworth has rendered into a symbol of the 
spread of Wyclif's views : 

" As thou these ashes, little Brook, wilt bear 
Into the Avon, Avon to the tide 
Of Severn, Severn to the narrow seas, 
Into the main ocean they, this deed accurst 
An emblem yields to friends and enemies 
How the bold teacher's doctrine sanctified 
By truth, shall spread throughout the world dispersed." 

Eccl. Sonnets. Pt. II., xvii. 



lo6 • CHURCH HISTORY. 

Meantime his followers had increased in numbers and 

power sufficiently to defy the authority of the pope. 

Upon the death of Wenzel, their king, they 

Hussite War. r j n • 4. o • • J u 

refused allegiance to bigismund as one who 
had broken his word. This led to the Hussite War. The 
Hussites, meantime divided into two parties the Calix- 
tines and the Taborites. The Calixtines (also called Utra- 
quists)* held first of all that the cup in the Eucharist 
should be given to the laity also. They held besides that 
the gospel should be preached to the people, that the 
clergy should return to apostolic simplicity, and that the 
congregation should have the right of punishing all moral 
sin. The Taborites were more radical and rejected every- 
thing that could not be grounded on Scripture. 
Calixtines and They were led by the heroic Ziska. The Ca- 

Tabontes. .. J J . , . . _ 

lixtines were enticed to reunite with the 
Catholic Church, apparently on their own terms (1433). 
The Taborites were defeated in the battle of Prague 
(1334) and the compact with the Calixtines proved a dead 
letter. Some, however, persisted in their opposition to 
the Church until the breaking out of the Reformation 
and joined with its adherents. 

Another memorable attempt at reformation independ- 
ently, however, of Wyclif, and Huss, was made by the en- 
thusiastic Italian friar Jerome (Girolamo) 
Savonarola (1452-1498). Savonarola ap- 
peared in public life as a monk, and from 1481 as 
the abbot of San Marco in Florence. In theology he 
was a follower of Thomas Aquinas, whose order (the 
Dominican) he had joined. He began by reforming the 
monastery over which he was called to preside. En- 
couraged by his success here and by the crowds which 
his eloquent preaching attracted at the Duomo, he under- 
took the reformation of Florence. In this work he nat- 
urally encountered the opposition of the family of the 
Medici. He claimed the power of prediction and fore- 
told, it was said, the death of Innocent VIII., the down- 

* The name Calixtine was applied from the demand of this party for the cup 
(Calyx) ; the name Utraquist from their insisting that the Lord's Supper must be 
administered in both species (titraque). 



SPIRITUAL LIFE. I97 

fall of the Medici, and the invasion of Florence by the 
foreign army of Charles VIII of France. The latter 
event gave him great power. The existing government of 
Florence was overthrown and a theocracy with Savonarola 
at its head was established. But now the pope Alex- 
ander VI. interfered. The reformer was summoned to 
Rome. Alexander, in his eagerness to get possession of 
Savonarola, went even to the extent of offering him a 
cardinal's hat. But the monk did not allow himself to be 
beguiled. Excommunication was resorted to, also, without 
avail. Finally the interdict was laid on Florence. Sa- 
vonarola agreed to submit to the ordeal of fire, but ap- 
peared to withdraw at the last moment. The populace 
wavered in their faith in him and turned against him. 
Bereft of supporters he was seized and with two of his 
followers hung on the gallows and then burned. While 
differing in many particulars from the English and Bo- 
hemian reformers, the Italian, like them, preached salvation 
by faith, and apart from submission to the Roman hier- 
archy and the use of the Roman ritual. Savonarola had 
denied the authority of the pope and denounced the cor- 
ruption of the Church. 



PART III. THE MODERN PERIOD. 

(A. D. 1517 .) 



CHAPTER I. 

THE RISE OF THE REFORMATION. 

Among the other works which Leo X., in his zeal to 
adorn Rome with good art, had undertaken, was the com- 
pletion of the church of St. Peter. The build- 
Leo x. decides [ n g f this magnificent structure had been 
indulgences, begun by Julius II. in 1506, but was inter- 
rupted and threatened with failure for lack 
of funds sufficient to carry it through. Leo X. resorted 
to a mode of financiering previously used by other popes 
under similar circumstances. This was the raising of 
funds by the sale of indulgences. Germany seemed to 
offer a specially inviting market for indulgences. Under 
the weak rule of the emperor Maximilian the papal 
hierarchy had managed to obtain an undisputed hold on 
it. The pope divided Germany into three districts, and 
committed one of them to the care of Albrecht, archbishop 
of Mainz and Magdeburg. The archbishop was to re- 
ceive for his services in aiding the sale one-half of the 
net proceeds for himself. Under the provisions of the 
scheme, John Tetzel, a Dominican monk, who had gained 
some skill in the traffic of indulgences by experience, 
and was moreover a persuasive popular speaker, ap- 
peared on the borders of Saxony and set up his trade. 
Here, however, he met with unexpected opposition 
from Martin Luther. In order to enter into Luther's mo- 

199 



200 CHURCH HISTORY. 

tives in this course it will be necessary briefly to review 

his previous life. He was born Nov. 10, 
Martin Luther's 1483, at Eisleben. His parents were in humble 

circumstances. He was educated at the uni- 
versity of Erfurt, where he came in contact with several 
young humanists, but was not attracted by their frivolous 
manner of life. Nevertheless, he studied the classics and 
was pursuing advanced studies, having already received 
the degree of Master of Arts, when he was alarmed about 
his religious condition by the sudden death of a friend, 
and entered with all haste an Augustinian monastery in 
spite of the protests of his parents. 

In the monastery he continued his studies, especially 
giving attention to the works of Thomas Aquinas and 

William of Occam. He also here formed the 
Martin Luther acquaintance of John Staupitz, a devout man, 
Prrfesso?at wno directed him to the Scriptures as the 
Wittenberg. source of light. Luther was ordained priest 

in 1507, and transferred to Wittenberg the 
following year to connect himself with the new uni- 
versity in that place (founded 1502). In 1511, he was 
sent by his order on a mission to Rome. It was 
while in the city of the popes and in the performance of 
the supposed highly meritorious act of penance — the 
climbing of the twenty-eight steps of the Scala Santa — that 
his studies in the Bible, the teachings of Staupitz and his 
past meditations on the subject of salvation were focused 
in a vivid impression that the external penance in which 
he was engaged was unavailing as a means of justifica- 
tion before God. He seemed to realize the Scripture, 
" The just shall live by faith." On his return to his post 
at Wittenberg, he lectured on the epistles to the Romans 
and to the Galatians, and on the Psalms. His religious 
experience deepened daily and his powers matured. 

When Tetzel made his appearance, Luther had already 
formed his views on penance and indulgences. He had 

even preached in 15 16 against indulgences. 
The Posting of g u t the formal way in which the traffic 

the Ninety-five . , . . J . . . . 

Theses. was carried on led him to a distinct act, 

calling attention to his opposition to it and 



THE RISE OF THE REFORMATION. 2 0l 

the grounds of such opposition. He nailed on the gate of 
the Castle church # at Wittenberg ninety-five theses or 
propositions, in which he denounced the papal teaching 
and proclaimed the Bible teaching on the subject of for- 
giveness of sin. He invited any one who wished to con- 
trovert these theses to a public disputation on a stated 
occasion. No one took up the challenge ; but the fame of 
the theses went abroad. 

Luther was summoned to Rome, but by intercession of 
the elector of Saxony, it was agreed that his views should 
be investigated in Augsburg. Here, accord- 
Leipzig ingly, in iqi8, he met Cajetan, the repre- 

Disputation. ° J . r , n^ t J r i 

sentative of the pope. I he conference proved 
fruitless. Another attempt to take him to Rome, in which 
the pope used the Saxon Miltitz as his agent, resulted in 
a temporary truce. Luther promised silence on the sub- 
ject of indulgences if his opponents would also keep 
silence. But as this was impossible under the circum- 
stances, a disputation was appointed at Leipzig and car- 
ried on in 15 19. Luther, Carlstadt, an imprudent man 
and more violent than Luther, and Eck on the papal 
side, were the disputants. The disputation ended by 
Luther's planting himself squarely on the Bible and re- 
fusing to accept the authority of popes, fathers, or even 
councils, to which he had previously attributed some 
decisive weight. 

There remained now nothing for the pope to do but 
excommunicate Luther. This step he accordingly took 

in 1520. Luther's treatment of the bull of 
f^io^ mum ~ excommunication was symbolical of his final 

rejection of the Roman yoke. At the head of 
a procession of students of the university he took the 
bull out of the city, and together with a copy of the canon 
law, he threw it into a fire specially prepared for the 
occasion. About the same time he assumed the task of 
preparing the laity for the rupture with Rome which he 
saw was impending. In three documents he laid before 
the nation the fundamental principles of the new move- 
ment. The first of these is the Address to the German 

* Schloss-Kirche. 



202 CHURCH HISTORY. 

Nobility, and insists on the independence of the German 
nation from papal rule. The second, on the Babylonian 
Captivity of the Church, is an attack on the papal teaching 
on the sacraments. It denies the sacramental nature of 
all but baptism and the Lord's Supper, and on the Lord's 
Supper it denies transubstantiation and asserts consub- 
stantiation. The third, on Christian Freedom, dwells on 
the nature of spiritual liberty as given by Christ. 

The labors of Luther now began to be shared by a 
group of companions providentially raised, and endowed 

with special gifts for the task. First among 
Meianchthon. these stands Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560), 

a rare scholar, who was destined through his 
logical acumen and wide scholarship to formulate the 
teachings of the reforming party. He was the nephew of 
the humanist Reuchlin, and early showed an aptness for 
classical studies, mastering the Greek and Latin with 
great ease. He was made professor of Greek and philo- 
sophy in the university of Wittenberg, and at once entered 
into Luther's ideas and gave him the aid of his accurate 
scholarship. He was more moderate in temperament 
than Luther, and could see the good that might exist in 
an antagonist's position. Another friend Luther found 
in Ulrich von Hutten (1 488-1 523), an ardent humanist 
and too impetuous to be long content with the course of 
Luther. 

In 1 52 1 the movement in the Church headed by Luther 
had acquired such proportions that the pope appealed to 

the imperial Diet to put Luther under the ban 
Diet of Worms, in order that the excommunication might be 

effectually carried out. As, however, he 
could not be condemned, according to German usage, 
without being heard, he was summoned to appear before 
the Diet at Worms. Luther was given an imperial safe- 
conduct and made his appearance. On being ushered 
for the first time before the emperor and the princes of the 
Diet, he asked for time to consider his answer. But on the 
next day he made his answer with firmness, closing with the 
memorable words : " I can and will retract nothing, for 
it is neithei safe nor expedient to act against conscience. 



THE RISE OF THE REFORMATION. 203 

Here I stand ; I can do no otherwise : God help me ! 
Amen." The Diet was presided over by the emperor 
Charles V., a firm Roman Catholic by heredity and train- 
ing, and as king of Spain, where the extreme blind submis- 
sion to the Roman Church was the rule, he declared 
against the toleration of Luther. The Diet put the re- 
former under the ban. 

Thus excommunicated by the Church and outlawed by 
the State, Luther began his return journey towards Wit- 
tenberg. On the way he was seized by a 
Wartburg. the company of men and carried to the fortress 
of the Wartburg. This step was taken in his 
interest by the elector Frederick of Saxony on the sup- 
position that a period of absence from the active scenes 
of labor and conflict would allay the excitement and give 
Luther a better opportunity to carry on his work later. 
At the Wartburg Luther was detained for the space of a 
year, not, however, passing the time in idleness, but in 
the most useful of all employments, the translation of the 
New Testament into German. 

Meantime, during his absence from Wittenberg, Carl- 
stadt gave utterance to incendiary sentiments and in his 
zeal even led the reforming party to acts of 
The Zwickau a violent and destructive kind, such as the 
Wittenberg. breaking of images and pulling down of altars. 
Reinforced by certain persons who, under the 
name of the Zwickau prophets, urged the people to deeds 
of violence, Carlstadt and his adherents had in fact begun 
a rebellion which imperiled the good cause at Luther's 
heart. He therefore decided, on learning of these doings, 
to abandon his seclusion and its safety and restore order 
at Wittenberg. In spite of the protest of the elector, he 
came forth and by timely preaching he induced the 
people to assume a quieter attitude, remaining thence- 
forth in their midst. 

The failure of the decree of the Diet of Worms to pro- 
duce any practical effect led Pope Hadrian VI. to demand 
of the next Diet (at Nuremberg) that this 
Diets of Nurem- decision be enforced, but the Diet simply 
Sp?yer! answered by presenting a list of a hundred 

grievances against the Roman see. An- 



204 CHURCH HISTORY. 

other Diet at Nuremberg two years later, in answer to the 
same demand made by Clement VII., passed that the de- 
cree of Worms should be executed " as far as possible." 
In other words, the subject was remanded to the several 
princes of the Diet. Meantime, political troubles were 
brewing, in the midst of which no decisive action could 
be taken. Finally at a Diet in Speyer (Spires, 1529), it 
was resolved to forbid the further spread of the Lutheran 
movement. Against this action a " Protest " was entered 
by the elector of Saxony, the Margrave of Brandenburg, 
the Duke of Brunswick-Liineburg, the Landgrave of 
Hesse, and the Prince of Anhalt and fourteen cities. 
From this Protest the name Protestant passed on the 
whole movement. The movement also assumed hence- 
forth a political aspect of great importance. 

In this state of affairs the Diet of Augsburg met in 1530. 
The emperor felt assured of his power to coerce* the Pro- 
testants ; yet he sought by a final peaceful effort to 
persuade them to return. The Diet was used 
DietofAugs- as a conference seeking for a basis of agree- 
ment. Melanchthon put forth the Confession 
— the earliest and most widely accepted of all Protestant 
creeds — which has ever been distinguished by the name 
of Augsburg. But compromise and reconciliation were 
demonstrated to be impossible, and the Diet of Augsburg 
is significant in history for this conclusion, if for nothing 
else. 

In the meantime Luther's marriage with Catherine von 
Bora, an escaped nun, followed by the marriage of other 
clerical adherents of the Reform, caused a 
riage. er H^ ar " scandal and at the same time widened the 
Disputes with breach between Protestantism and Rome. 
enry ' Luther further entered into controversy with 
King Henry VIII. of England. This monarch, in a treatise 
meant to answer Luther's attack on the Church doctrine of 
the sacraments, assumed the role of theologian and cham- 
pion of Catholic doctrine. The debate was character- 
ized by the most violent use of language on both sides. 
Another controversy arose between Luther and Erasmus. 
The great humanist was not opposed to the reformation 



THE RISE OF THE REFORMATION. 



205 



of the Church ; in fact, he was himself doing all that he 
deemed wise towards this end. But he ex- 
with Erasmus, pected reform to come by way of culture and 
education, and not by way of theological 
debate and schism. He lacked the religious fervor nec- 
essary to understand and take a share in Luther's work, 
although at first he sympathized with the end in view. 
The controversy between the two men had reference 
ostensibly to the question of free will and predestination, 
but became a personal dispute in which they exchanged 
compliments in the unreserved fashion of the day. 

Finally the Peasants' War in 1525 threatened to com- 
plicate and even imperil the cause of the Reformation. 
The peasants of Germany had endured for 
Peasants' War. many years grievous wrongs and were rest- 
less when the new religious doctrines and 
the ferment produced by them stimulated the spirit of 
rebellion against existing authorities. There were not 
lacking leaders, too, who pointed to the Scriptures for the 
warrant of the course proposed by the peasants. Luther 
steadily resisted every effort to mix up the cause of a 
spiritual Christianity with political movements. When 
the rebellion broke out, he advised the princes to put it 
down with a strong hand. He foresaw that in case it 
should succeed fanaticism would reign and wild anarchy 
would result. 

But while Luther was guiding the opposition to the 
papacy in Germany, with wisdom and vigor, another 
movement in the same direction was growing 
Zwingii. in strength and importance daily. This was 

led by Zwingii in Switzerland. Like the re- 
form in Germany, this was also occasioned by the sale of 
indulgences, though here, as in Germany, the causes lay 
much deeper than the occasion, and the movement was 
bound up in the zeal and wisdom of a great leader, 
Ulrich Zwingii. Zwingii was born in 1484 at Wildhaus, 
an obscure town in the mountains. His youth was spent 
at home and his education taken at Basel and Berne. 
He also became fond of the classics, and was led to ex- 
amine the Bible and to recognize its absolute authority. 



206 CHURCH HISTORY. 

The condition of Switzerland led to his taking a deep 
interest in military matters, and to a certain extent in the 
affairs of the State. He was made pastor of a church at 
Glarus and was thence transferred to Einsiedeln (15 16). 
It was while here that he came in conflict with 
Hi |5 e . m £ val the Roman Church in the matters of indul- 
gences, taking a certain Samson, a seller of 
indulgences, as the object of his attack. From Einsiedeln 
he removed to Zurich in 15 19. 

This position was much more favorable for the spread of 
his views. He began by expounding the Scriptures to the 
people, and was listened to with intense interest 
v?ews d ° f HlS D Y multitudes. Here in 1523 he engaged 
in two disputations, successfully attacking 
the external polity and worship of the Roman Church. 
In 1525 he published his Commentary on True and 
False Religion. This served to define his position and 
gave the keynote to the Swiss reformation. From Zurich 
the views of Zwingli spread to Basel through the efforts 
of CEcolampadius. Schaffhausen, St. Gall, and Berne also 
adopted them and the reform movement seemed well 
started. 

The Swiss movement, however, soon became involved 
in the political situation. A line of division appeared 
coinciding with that separating the mountain 
pHcaUoL C ° m " cantons from the cities. The highlands were 
conservative. The valley cities declared for 
reform. The two sides were organized and war appeared 
inevitable, but was delayed by negotiations and a tempo- 
rary truce (1529). 

The question how far the Zwinglian and Lutheran 
reforms were on a common ground could not, of course, 
T . , fail to be suggested. It was evident that 

Lutheran and . && . . . 

Zwinglian Re- Zwingli had arrived at his conclusions inde- 
ed C ° m ~ pendently of Luther. The standpoints of the 
Sacramentarian two reformers were slightly different. While 
ontroversy. L u t ner took the Bible as a corrective of abuse 
and would therefore leave untouched all that was not posi- 
tively contrary to its teachings, Zwingli took the Bible as a 
a source and measure of construction anew, and would 



THE RISE OF THE REFORMATION. 



207 



allow nothing to stand that was not directly derived from 
it. Luther kept his eye single on the religious aspect of 
the reformation and would not permit its association with 
political issues ; whereas Zwingli aimed at the political as 
well as the spiritual regeneration of his country. But the 
most troublesome difference between the German and 
Swiss reformers had reference to the question of the 
Lord's Supper. Luther had come to the conclusion that 
the body and blood of Christ were present in the sacra- 
ment, but not by way of the change of the bread and wine 
into them, but rather by way of the infusion of the real 
body and blood in the consecrated elements of bread and 
wine, so that they are permeated and possessed just as 
red hot iron is permeated by fire. Zwingli on the other 
hand asserted that the sacrament was nothing more than 
a commemorative service of the death of Christ. 

To bring about an understanding between the reformers 
on this point, and at the same time to lead them to a per- 
sonal acquaintance with one another, a confer- 
ferenc"? C ° n " ence was held at Marburg. Luther was here 
accompanied by Melanchthon, and Zwingli by 
GEcolampadius. The subject was discussed, but Luther, 
choosing the text "This is my body", would proceed no 
further than the literal interpretation. The conference 
broke up without having effected the union desired. 

The peace patched up between the Catholic cantons and 
the Protestant cities of Switzerland was never meant by the 
Catholics to be kept in good faith. The cities, 
insSfaJ! exasperated by the frequent violation of its 
Death of terms, decided to coerce the cantons. In the 

war that ensued the Protestants were defeated 
and Zwingli was slain (1531). But at the peace which was 
concluded soon afterwards, the right of each canton to 
decide its own religious questions was conceded. With 
the death of (Ecolampadius, its second great leader, 
within a week after the conclusion of this peace, the Swiss 
reformation fell back into a slower pace and began to 
depend for its life and growth more and more on its as- 
sociation with the movement in the rest of Europe. 

One of the sequels of the Diet of Augsburg was the 



2o8 CHURCH HISTORY. 

formation of the League of Smalcald, 1531, for the protec- 
tion of the Protestants, whose destruction the 
SmaSd. emperor put before himself as a prime object. 

^mber° f N "" ^ ut ^ e threatening attitude of the Turks and 
the greatness of the work of putting down 
the league, strengthened as it was by the accession of 
Denmark and of the Duke of Bavaria, led Charles V. to 
delay his repressive measures and to come to an under- 
standing with the Protestant princes in the Peace of 
Nuremberg, according to whose terms the religious ques- 
tion was referred to a future Diet or a council. This 
peace gave Protestantism an opportunity to make new 
gains. Alarmed by its spread, the Catholics banded 
themselves together in the Holy League (Nuremberg, 

1538). 

Once more the idea of a peaceful settlement of the 
difficulty came to the front, and a conference was held 

at Ratisbon in 1541. Luther had no confi- 
Rat4 e bon. Ce at dence in further efforts at reunion with the 

Catholic Church. Neither was he present at 
the conference. Those who did participate in it were 
certainly better qualified by their moderation and pacific 
temper than any others to effect an understanding, if it 
were possible. These were on the Protestant side, 
Melanchthon, and on the Catholic, Contarini, a man of 
prudent and devout disposition who was ready in some 
respects to agree with the Protestants. But the con- 
ference found no basis of reconciliation and broke up 
without any other effect than the deepening of the con- 
viction that the gulf between the parties was impassable. 
The next five years were passed in a sort of armed 
truce. The empire was distracted by fears of trouble 

with the Mohammedans, and the Protestant 
Luther? f league was rent with internal dissensions. 

Luther died in 1546. His last days were 
marked by personal despondency induced by waning 
health. While his faith in the cause to which he had 
given his life was undiminished, and his personal religious 
experience grew richer, his view of affairs at Wittenberg 
became gloomy. He was irritated by petty difficulties, 



THE RISE OF THE REFORMATION. 



209 



and his friends were taxed to the utmost to maintain his 
confidence in them. 

Finally the war cloud burst in 1546. The strife in the 
ranks of the Protestants resulted in the defection of 
Maurice, Duke of Saxony. The Protestants were worsted. 
The Elector of Saxony was captured and the 
smaicaidic Landgrave of Hesse submitted (1547). The 
Augsburg emperor dictated the Augsburg Interim, ac- 

cording to whose terms, until the whole contro- 
versy could be settled by a council, Protestants and Catho- 
lics were to live on the basis of a compromise. This was 
pleasing to neither party, and Maurice with the aid of 
Melanchthon modified it in the interest of Protestantism, 
and presented it as the Leipzig Interim. But neither was 
this to last long. The same Prince Maurice, disappointed 
with the results of his course in forsaking the side of his 
people and joining forces with the emperor, now suddenly 
turned against his former ally, and, in a rapid campaign 
brought the emperor to terms, forcing him in the Treaty of 
Passau (1552) to refer the difficulties to a Diet in which 
Protestants as well as Catholics should take part. This 
Diet, accordingly, met at Augsburg in 1555 and put an 
end to the war in the celebrated Peace of 
Augsburg. Augsburg. The provisions of this peace were, 
in the first place, that every prince should 
choose between the Catholic religion and the Augsburg 
Confession, and the religion thus chosen should be that 
of the land over which the prince ruled. But, secondly, 
prelates or ecclesiastical princes must first resign their 
benefices, if they wished to adopt Protestantism. 
14 



CHAPTER II. 

THE SPREAD OF THE REFORMATION. 

The first region to welcome the Reformation after it 

was fairly begun in Germany was that inhabited by the 

Scandinavian peoples. The unsettled political 

TheReforma- condition of the Scandinavian countries, how- 

tion m Den- . . . ... . 7 

mark. ever, involved the religious movement in a net- 

work of political relations. Christian II. of 
Denmark (15 13-1523) was, no doubt, moved by politi- 
cal considerations when he first favored Protestantism, 
and later adopted exactly the opposite policy. When he 
was overthrown and Frederick I., Duke of Schleswig- 
Holstein, was raised to the throne, this monarch also 
changed his attitude towards the reform movement, and 
from an intolerant Catholic became a friend of Lutheran- 
ism, and saw this form of belief steadily gaining ground 
both among the people and the nobility. Under Christian 
III. the Reformation was formally legalized. Monasteries 
were secularized, superintendents were appointed over 
the churches, in place of the bishops, though bearing the 
name of bishops, and the king himself was 
Norway. crowned at Copenhagen by Bugenhagen a 

Lutheran divine. Norway was next drawn 
into the revolution which swept over Denmark, and re- 
duced to a province of that kingdom, and Iceland a few 
years later joined Norway and Denmark in the column 
of Protestant countries. 

The views of Luther were carried into Sweden by 
two students from Wittenberg, Olaf and Laurence Peter- 
210 



THE SPREAD OF THE REFORMATION. 2 1 1 

sen (15 19). The country was, however, under the Danes, 

and a political revolution was impending 
gustavus Vasa. which came about in the elevation of Gustavus 

Vasa, a young noble, to the throne of an in- 
dependent Sweden. Vasa favored Lutheranism from the 
beginning. He gave Lutherans high offices, confiscated 
the vast property of the Church, obtaining thereto the 
consent of the Diet of Westeras (1527), and, by threaten- 
ing to resign the throne and plunge the nation into 
anarchy, firmly established Protestantism in the land. 
So firmly indeed did Protestantism take hold of Sweden 
during his long reign (1523-1560), that when his successor 
Eric XIV. (1560-1568), who was also a Protestant and 
Calvinist gave place to John III. (1568-1592) and 
Catholicism was given a full opportunity to regain the 
land, it was unable to do so, in spite of the efforts of the 
Jesuits. 

In France Francis I. (15 15-1547) was reigning when 
Luther first blew the trumpet of reform. For more than 

fifteen years the king maintained towards the 
inde?Francis i. new movement if not a favoring attitude, at least 

a neutral one. His sister Margaret, Queen of 
Navarre, took more openly the side of the reforming party. 
Lefevre (Faber Stapulensis) had prepared the way for 
the reception of the new teachings by his expositions of 
the Scriptures,* and Briconnet, bishop of Meaux, appeared 
to adopt them. But the Parliament and the Sorbonne 
(a conservative school of thought) opposed these views 
and succeeded in rousing a storm of persecution before 
which Briconnet deemed it wise to bow. Finally the 
king himself was induced in 1534 to pronounce against 
the heretics, and even take part in putting some of them 
to death. There is no doubt that he was led to this 
course by the belief that the unity of his kingdom and 
with it its prestige and influence were threatened by the 
toleration of the Reformation. f He was not averse to a 
quiet reformation of the Erasmian type, nor did he 

*See Pt.II. ch. XIV. 

t He was accustomed to use the maxim "un roi, une loi, une foi.' , 



2I2 CHURCH HISTORY. 

undervalue the importance of the political alliance with 
the Protestants of Germany in his conflicts with his old 
rival Charles V., but he feared the revolutionary effect 
of a reformation after the Lutheran type, on the stability 
of the French government. Hence to the end of his 
reign the policy which prevailed in France was that of 
tacit opposition to Protestantism. 

But if the attitude of Francis towards the new move- 
ment was vacillating and uncertain, that of his son and 

successor Henry II. ("1547-1559) was clear 
under Henry and determined from the outset. This 

monarch united with the Sorbonne in the 
effort to extirpate heresy by burning the persons of the 
heretics as well as their books. And yet in spite of 
these efforts Protestantism grew in France at a rate which 
alarmed its opponents. Persecution seemed to fail in the 
hands of king and clergy. 

In Great Britain Henry VIII. had taken up the cudgels 
in behalf o£ the Catholic faith and embroiled himself in a 

controversy on the sacraments with Luther, in 
In En gi and which he was obliged to hear some unkind 
Yin. words from the Saxon reformer ; but his zeal 

was rewarded by Pope Leo X. with the title 
of Defender of the Faith. But the adherence of Henry 
to the Roman see was not strong enough to stand the 
strain of personal interest. As he came to feel that his 
marriage with Catharine of Aragon should be annulled, 
and the pope declined, perhaps for reasons political and 
prudential, to annul it, Henry resolved to declare the in- 
dependence of the Church in England from the authority 
of the bishop of Rome (1532). Yet, while the personal 
desire of the king to be freed from the yoke of a marriage 
which was contrary to the canons of the Church and dis- 
tasteful to him, and permitted to wed the woman for 
whom he had contracted a strong passion — Anne Boleyn 
— was a potent factor in determining his course, it must 
be noted that there were other considerations of a politi- 
cal nature pointing in the same direction. The national 
independence of England from continental European 
disturbances was intimately connected with the ecclesi- 



THE SPREAD OF THE REFORMATION. 213 

astical separation from Rome. It was for this reason that 
the king found in Cranmer a most willing auxiliary to 
his plans of divorce and remarriage, and in the Parlia- 
ment a ready response to his request that the headship 
of the Church should be vested in the crown instead of 
the pope. Cranmer declared the marriage with Catharine 
of Aragon invalid. The Parliament passed the Act of 
Supremacy, according to which " the king, 
Rupture with his hdrs and successors were declared 

the only supreme head on earth of the 
Church in England, called the Anglicana Ecclesia " 
(1534). The next step was to dispossess the Church of 
Rome of all rights of property in the land. This was 
accomplished by the abolition of the cloisters and the 
confiscation of their possessions. 

The divorce of the king was opposed by Thomas 
More and bishop Fisher. For this attitude they were 

seized and thrown into the Tower, where after 
R r e°formation the a Y ear they were taken out only to be led to 

the block. The pope (Paul III.) now pro- 
ceeded to excommunicate Henry (1535) ; the bull of ex- 
communication also declared the subjects of the king ab- 
solved from their allegiance to him. Henry had a wise 
adviser in Thomas Cromwell, who urged the combination 
of all the Protestant powers along with France, England 
taking the lead, in a grand alliance against the pope and 
the emperor. To prepare the way for this, however, it 
was necessary for the Protestantism of England to organ- 
ize internally. This was, accordingly, done by the 
publication of the Great Bible and the adoption of 
the Ten Articles (1536). But a casual glance at 
these articles, shows that the reform aimed at was not to 
be doctrinal ; they teach salvation by faith, but declare 
good works also to be necessary ; further, the use of 
images in worship, invocation of saints, and auricular con- 
fession are in them approved, and purgatory accepted as 
a reality, though the power of the pope to deliver from 
it is denied. In 1539 the king made up his mind to force 
the reactionary Six Articles according to which tran- 
substantiation, the administration of the Lord's Supper 



2i 4 CHURCH HISTORY. 

in one kind only to the laity, auricular confession, the 
celibacy of the clergy, the obligation of vows of chastity, 
and private masses were made articles of faith. The 
leaders, including Cranmer, Latimer, and Cromwell, were 
opposed to this measure. Thus feelings of alienation grew 
up between the king and Cromwell ; the king was married 
with Anna Cleves in accordance with the advice of 
Cromwell, and was much disappointed, a fact which 
widened the gulf between them. Cromwell did not long 
remain in favor. He was accused of high treason and 
beheaded in 1540, and the cause of reformation made 
no further progress during the remaining years of Henry's 
reign. 

Edward VI. (1547-1553) found himself at the head of 
a Church which was neither Protestant nor Catholic. 
Personally he favored a thorough Pro.testant- 
Edwardvi. ism. Cranmer also, who continued, as arch- 
bishop of Canterbury, to hold the position of 
greatest influence in the Church, was drawn into closer 
and more sympathetic relations with the reformers of the 
continent and was ready, in accordance with the desire 
of the king, to resume and push the work of reorganizing 
the Church of England. The Six Articles were repealed. 
A Book of Common Prayer was put forth in the English 
language for use by the English Church (1548). More 
radical reformers like Ridley, Latimer, and Hooper, came 
to the front. The last named especially wielded great 
influence and brought about the abolition of many un- 
scriptural usages, such as the setting up of stone altars and 
images in the churches. He further opposed vestments 
and at first declined to wear them when appointed bishop 
of Gloucester, a step which threatened to cause a serious 
rupture within the ranks of the reformers, as even men 
like Ridley favored the use of vestments. Hooper, how- 
ever, withdrew his opposition to the custom and was con- 
secrated bishop. His influence was instrumental in 
bringing about a change of opinion among the people, so 
that by 1552 it was thought necessary to revise the Book 
of Common Prayer in the interests of greater simplicity 
and evangelicalism. At the same time, a creed was 
formulated consisting of forty-two articles, and the 



THE SPREAD OF THE REFORMATION. 



215 



Church seemed to be definitely committed to a thorough 
reformation. But political disturbances intervened. 
The Duke of Northumberland, for various reasons dis- 
satisfied with the government of Somerset, who was act- 
ing as Regent, or Protector during the king's minority, 
rose up against him and finally brought about his over- 
throw and execution. The king himself died at the early 
age of sixteen (1553). 

A new center for the spread of the Reformation was 
formed in the city of Geneva through the operation of 
different conditions. Geneva was a semi-inde- 
Geneva. pendent city governed by a republican constitu- 

tion. At the beginning of the sixteenth century 
it passed through a political crisis, the ultimate result of 
which was to confirm and enlarge its liberties as against 
the encroachments of the Dukes of Savoy, and associate 
it more closely with the cantons and cities of Switzerland. 
Protestantism entered into the community and found the 
way paved for it in the civil disturbances that had pre- 
ceded. Gradually its power grew to such a degree that 
the Catholic bishop was expelled and the Reformed faith 
was adopted as the religion of the State. 

The man who more than others had labored to bring 
about this result was William Farel, a French Protestant, 
driven out of his native land by persecution. 
William Farel. Farel was endowed with the gifts of a preacher. 
He fearlessly proclaimed his beliefs by the 
force of an eloquence growing out of unshaken conviction, 
and carried conviction in his audiences. But he lacked 
the calmness and balance necessary for the administration 
of affairs. When therefore the time came for the Church 
of Geneva to be organized, a different type of man was 
needed and Farel knew this. Such a man he secured for 
the Reformed Church of Geneva in the person of John 
Calvin. 

John Calvin was born at Noyon, in France, in 1509. 

His father was one of the notaries of the place and 

secretary to the bishop. The education of 

John Calvin. Calvin as a boy was committed to able 

teachers, and when he was ready for profes- 



216 CHURCH HISTORY. 

sional studies he was entered as a student of law in the 
universities of Orleans and Bourges. His habits of 
study and acuteness of mind early attracted attention. 
He was led to examine the Scriptures and became con- 
vinced of the truth of the Reformed views. Upon declar- 
ing this conviction in an address prepared for the rector of 
the university of Paris, he aroused such a storm of opposi- 
tion that it became necessary for him to fly in order to 
escape arrest. Going to Basel he continued theological 
and Biblical studies, and presently put forth his Institutes 
of the Christian Religion. His motive was apologetic. 
By setting forth clearly before the Catholic public and 
especially before Francis I. to whom the work was dedi- 
cated, the beliefs of Protestants, he designed to show that 
the Reformed were not the same as Anabaptists and 
fanatics whose efforts tended to destroy con- 
insSutes. fidence and undermine the social order. 
Thus, he hoped, the king might be induced to 
prevent the persecution of his subjects of the Reformed 
faith. The force and clearness of the presentation in this 
treatise of the views he held and expounded as the teach- 
ing of Scripture commended the system at once, and have 
given it a vast influence in the world ever since. Begin- 
ning with the absolute perfection of God and the absolute 
dependence of all his creatures on his will, he builds up 
a system of theology with the divine decree as its center, 
and predestination, election, total depravity, irresistible 
grace and everlasting perseverance of the elect, as its 
necessary corollaries. On the sacrament of the Lord's 
Supper Calvin struck a middle way between the Lutheran 
doctrine of consubstantiation and the Zwinglian of mere 
commemoration. He taught that in the Lord's Supper 
Christ is really, but spiritually present to impart special 
grace in a manner different and more direct than in any 
other ordinance. 

It was Calvin's desire and purpose to continue a life 
devoted to study and seclusion. From this purpose he 
was diverted by Fare!, when passing through 
Genivl 5111 at Geneva he stayed in the city for a night, ap- 
parently. Farel on this occasion convinced 



THE SPREAD OF THE REFORMATION. 2 1 7 

him that it was his duty to stay in Geneva and take the 
lead of the movement for reform there (1536). For the 
next two years, accordingly, we find him along with Farel 
exercising a rigid authority in Geneva and perfecting the 
organization of the community on a theocratic basis. 
But the city was not yet ready for his strict and pure 
ethical system. He was banished with Farel, and with- 
drew to Strasburgand his studies. The people of Geneva 
meantime attempted to conduct their affairs without the 
disciplinary and other provisions devised for them by 
Calvin, and found the results disastrous to the cause of 
order and peace. They resolved after a period of three 
years to recall the banished preachers and once more 
commit the care of affairs into their hands. This was 
done in 1541, and from that date Calvin stayed in Geneva 
until his death (1564), taking an active part in the manage- 
ment of the Church and of the State through the advice 
and admonition he administered to the civil rulers. 

Calvin was opposed in Geneva by a political party 
known as the Libertines. This party was made up of 
two elements : a religious element, of which 
Libertines. the chief characteristic was a system of pan- 
theistic beliefs accompanied by a lax view of 
the marriage relation. This element passed more par- 
ticularly under the name of the Spirituels. The other 
element was the political one, strictly consisting of such 
natives as fretted at the prominence of Frenchmen in 
the affairs of the city, and the concentration of power in 
the hands of the magistrates, with the retrenching of the 
liberties of the people that this implied. These elements 
of opposition found vent from time to time on occasions 
furnished by the life of the State. 

The most famous of these occasions was the affair of 
Servetus. Servetus was a Spanish physician who had 
devoted some attention to studies in natural 
Servetus. science, philosophy and theology, and pub- 

lished two books, one on the Errors of the 
Trinity (1531), and another on the Restoration of Christi- 
anity (1553). While residing at Vienne he was arrested 
on the charge of heresy contained in these books. The 



218 CHURCH HISTORY. 

doctrine of the Trinity especially, he attacked in lan- 
guage deemed blasphemous in those days. He first 
denied that he was the author of the books. But as he 
saw that the case was to be proved against him, he es- 
caped from Vienne, and being recaptured in Geneva, was 
brought to trial before the magistrates there. Trusting 
in the power of the Libertine party, he boldly reasserted 
his views and defied Calvin. The charges against him 
being sustained, he was condemned and burned October 
27, 1553- 



CHAPTER III. 

THE COUNTER-REFORMATION. 

The Roman Catholic Church did not long remain un- 
affected by the great movement which swept so many out 
of its communion. The influence of Protest- 
RSo C rmation e antism on it was twofold — direct and reac- 
onthe Catho- tionary. As a direct influence it acted by a 
sort of contagion, producing in the first place 
a more intelligent piety within the hearts of many, who 
still wished to adhere to its old form, then, a stronger 
desire for purity in morals, and lastly, a clearer exposition 
and defence of doctrine. As far as Protestantism pro- 
duced a reaction against itself in the Roman Catholic 
communion, the tendency manifested itself simply in the 
effort to suppress its spread in those regions where it had 
not obtained a footing, that is, Italy, Spain and France, and 
to counteract its power and restrain it in those countries 
where it was apparently in the ascendant. The coopera- 
tion of these two tendencies resulted in the Counter- 
Reformation. 

The local center of this movement was Italy. This 
country was peculiarly the battle-ground of forces calcu- 
lated to draw it both into and away from the 
Italy and the Reformation. The forces which worked in 
Reformation. ^h e direction of a reformation in Italy were the 
natural dissatisfaction of a people oppressed 
for centuries by an ecclesiastical system of absolutism, 
and the intellectual awakening accompanying the Renais- 
sance. Both of these forces were felt in Italy more than 
elsewhere in Europe, because for both this country was a 
center and its people lived nearest, so to speak, the 

219 



220 CHURCH HISTORY. 

fountainhead of the influence. But on the other hand 
there were stronger forces at work designed to draw Italy 
away from Protestantism. These were the intimate 
association of the papacy with Italian nationality. With 
all its hatefulness, the tyranny of the papacy was after 
all the tyranny of an institution belonging to Italian soil 
and bound up with Italian pride and Italian interests. 
The leading men of the country, moreover, found the 
papacy a means of personal gain. Promotion came 
through it and the act of cutting one's self from it 
amounted to official suicide. And as to the Renaissance, 
it had brought so much of skepticism and religious in- 
difference that the fervor necessary for entrance into the 
reform movement was lacking. Finally Italy had settled 
to a more stolid conservatism than Northern Europe. The 
result of these counterworking forces was a new depart- 
ure in Catholicism. 

The earliest significant symptom of this new departure 
was the Oratory of the Divine Love. This was an or- 
ganization consisting of fifty or sixty devout Catholics for 
the purpose of cultivating personal piety. Its members 
were agreed in feeling the need of a change for the 
better in the hierarchy of the Church. They differed, 
however, widely in their doctrinal views as well as in ref- 
erence to the methods to be used in bringing about the 
moral purification of the clergy and Church. 

The Oratory of the Divine Love issued in two diver- 
gent tendencies ; on the one hand, in the direction of a 
more biblical basis of doctrine, and on the 
Oratory of the other, towards a more radical opposition to the 
Divine Love, doctrinal and administrative changes pro- 
posed by the Protestants. The leader of 
those who promoted the first of these tendencies was 
Contarini. Contarini held and taught that justification 
was by faith, but did not see the inconsistency of this 
doctrine with the system of the Roman Church. He 
established himself at Venice, which was politically 
somewhat more independent than other cities in Italy, 
and gathered a band of followers about him. But in 
1537 Pope Paul III. offered him the cardinal's hat, and his 



THE COUNTER-REFORMATION. 2 2l 

efforts for reform thenceforth blended with zeal for the 
preservation of the Church system. 

Contarini's influence combined with the influence 
of Protestant literature imported surreptitiously to Venice 
gave rise to a more open positive current to- 
Contanniand wards Protestantism. Churches began to be 
his Party. organized independently and gifted men began 

to devote themselves to the work of purifying 
the religious atmosphere. Juan Valdez, a high official in 
the government of Naples, earnestly supported the evan- 
gelical views. Bernardino Ochino began as a Capuchin, 
but adopted the reformed doctrines and was compelled 
by persecution to fly to Geneva for safety. Pietro Ver- 
migli (Peter Martyr), an able scholar and canon regular, for 
similar reasons fled first to Zurich, thence to Strasburg, and 
finally, being joined by Ochino, went to England. A book 
entitled Del Beneftcio di Crista Crociftsso was put forth, 
expressive of the views of many who had yielded to 
the Reformation. To the question, " How can one be 
saved ? " this book gives the answer, " Through Christ 
alone," that is, by faith in his merit working in a holy life. 
The book was condemned, all the copies of it in circula- 
tion that could be gathered together were burned in heaps 
at Rome, and its reputed author, Paleario, suffered martyr- 
dom. 

At the head of the second or anti-Protestant wing of 
the Oratory was Caraffa. This leader found more fol- 
lowers than Contarini. He was raised to the 
Caraffa. cardinal's position at the same time with 

Contarini and joined with others in advising 
Pope Paul III. to institute reforms, a proposition 
which the pope seriously took under consideration ; he 
even called on the leaders of the Oratory for a plan 
{consiliuni) which he readily adopted. But nothing was 
done until this pope yielding to the general desire con- 
vened an ecumenical council. The emperor had re- 
peatedly called for this action but without avail. Local 
synods now began to clamor for it, as at Sens (1528) and 
Cologne (1536) and the pope issued the bull calling it 
together in May 1542. 



222 CHURCH HISTORY. 

The council met three years and a half after the sum- 
mons for it had gone forth, being delayed meantime by 

unforeseen and insuperable obstacles. The 
Council of place of meeting was the city of Trent. As 

soon as the sessions were opened it was evi- 
dent that the members represented conflicting interests. 
There were in it Galileans and Ultrarnontanes, Francis- 
cans and Dominicans, Moderates and Conservatives. 
The papal party, however, obtained control by the distri- 
bution of money among the poorer prelates. It was 
determined to take the vote not by nations, but by 
individuals. As the Italians were numerically in the 
preponderance they dictated the decisions. The con- 
clusions were put in three rubrics, viz. doctrines, canons, 
and decrees regarding reformation. 

The first subject taken under consideration was the 
canon of Scripture and the conclusion arrived at on this 

point was " that unwritten traditions, which 
Decision as to have been received either from the lips of 

Christ himself, or transmitted in the Church, 
are all to be accepted with respect and veneration equal 
to that which is due to the Scriptures," and further " that 
the books of Holy Scripture, including the Old Testament 
Apocrypha, should be used only in the Vulgate version 
and interpreted not by private individuals, but by the 
Church;' 

The subjects of original sin, and justification, were 
then taken up, and after animated debate, justification was 

defined as a subjective, progressive process, 
Theological no t an instantaneous declarative act. When 

the subject of the sacraments came under 
discussion, before action could be taken the city of Trent 
was visited by contagious disease. It was proposed that 
the council be transferred to Bologna, but many, including 
the emperor, were opposed to this plan and preferred to 
have the sessions suspended for a time ; this was ac- 
cordingly done in 1547. After an interval of four years 
the council was reconvened by papal decree (155 1). 

An effort was made, as the council reopened its ses- 
sions, to obtain a representation of Protestantism in it. 



THE COUNTER-REFORMATION. 223 

In fact Protestant delegates were ready to take their 
seats should any be given them. But it was 
ment1 aC! lus- evident that the animus of the dominant 
pension of council was against the concession of any rights 
whatever to Protestants, and the council was 
carried on as before, as a vehicle of papal ideas. The 
subject of the sacraments was again taken up. The 
Eucharist was defined in the old sense. Transubstantia- 
tion was reaffirmed. The doctrine of Penance was form- 
ulated under the head of the Sacrament of Penance and 
defined as consisting of contrition, confession and absolu- 
tion. Finally, under the subject of the sacraments, Ex- 
treme Unction was defined. About one year after the 
resumption of its deliberations the council was again 
interrupted, this time by the successes of Maurice. The 
sessions were therefore suspended for ten years. 

Meantime cardinal Caraffa ascended the papal throne 
under the name of Paul IV. (1555-1559). His most im- 
portant act was the strengthening of the In- 
Paui iy. Re- quisition, thus setting up the machinery that 

sumption. ^ V 1 t-» • tt 1 

was to right Protestantism. He estranged 
Ferdinand I., however, by opposing his elevation to the 
empire, and exhausted the patience of the Roman people 
by his tyranny. His successor, Pius IV. (1560-1565), 
adopted a radically different policy, and enjoyed the as- 
sistance of his nephew Carlo Borromeo, a man of pure and 
upright character, as well as of splendid gifts. During 
the pontificate of Pius IV. the Council of Trent resumed 
its sessions (1562) and concluded its labors. The sacra- 
ments of Orders and of Matrimony, involving the ques- 
tion of papal authority and the marriage of the clergy, 
were disposed of to the satisfaction of the papal side, 
and the council ended its work of doctrinal definition by 
reasserting its belief in purgatory and the necessity of 
the invocation of saints, the worship of images and relics, 
and the dispensation of indulgences. 

In the matter of practical reforms, the council insisted 

that the discipline of the Church should be stricter, and 

that a better education should be required of 

Practical Re- th e clergy. This latter measure resulted in 

forms 

greater care in teaching from the pulpit. In- 



224 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



stead of the gross and sometimes impious and revolting 
speculations of medieval monks, the subject matter 
of preaching was made the doctrinal system of the 
Church as cleared up and condensed by the council. 
Thus the Council of Trent became a vigorous agent as 
well as result of the Counter-Reformation. Ranke has 
said that the u Dogma of Trent was not the doctrine from 
which Protestants seceded." It is much nearer the truth 
to say that the Dogma of Trent is the offspring within 
Catholicism of Protestant influence. The whole effect 
of the council was strengthening to the Church. The 
hierarchy was improved in moral tone, the doctrinal sys- 
tem was put into clear and concise form, vastly more 
satisfactory than the diffuse conflicting statements of the 
fathers in which only it might be found previously in 
authoritative form. The decrees of the Council were 
confirmed by papal bull in 1564. They were accepted in 
Spain, Italy and Portugal without reservation, and par- 
tially in France, Hungary and the Catholic regions of 
Germany. 

Another instrument of the Counter-Reformation was 
the Inquisition. This institution was reorganized by 

Caraffa in Italy and placed on an independent 
The inquisition footing, amenable directly to the pope's 

authority. It was established as a tribunal 
with power to institute proceedings and execute sentence 
against heretics. Six cardinals, entitled Inquisitors 
General, were empowered to constitute branches, or sub- 
ordinate tribunals in different locations, and to exercise 
the functions belonging to the central office. Whenever 
guilt of heresy was established, they inflicted torture and 
even death, irrespective of the class of society or employ- 
ment of the culprit. 

From the persons of heretics the inquisition proceeded 
to their books. Caraffa made a list of all the books 

that should be suppressed. This was called 
index Expur- tne Index and included all the publications 

of more than sixty publishing houses, besides 
many individual productions, among them the very 
Consilium submitted by the Oratorians to Paul III. out- 



THE COUNTER-REFORMATION. 



225 



lining reforms, a document of which Caraffa himself was 
one of the authors. Under Sixtus V. (1 585-1590) this 
Index was so amended as to include not only whole books 
but objectionable passages in books also. Thus it grew 
to be the Index Expurgatoi'ius. 

In Spain the methods of the Inquisition were more 
thoroughgoing than elsewhere. Here the extermination 
of heretics assumed the form of religious service 
The inquisition or act °f faith (auto da fe). A day was set 
in Spain. apart in which heretics were examined, and if 

found guilty, burned with public ceremony. 
Protestantism had made some converts in the cities of 
Seville and Valladolid ; in these cities, accordingly, two 
most remarkable autos da fe were celebrated in 1559 and 
1560. The king and royal court solemnized the occasions 
by their presence. The condemned were given the op- 
portunity to submit to the ministry of the Catholic priests. 
If they did so, they were strangled before being burned, 
otherwise they must endure the tortures of being cast 
alive into the flames. There was no safety even for a 
suspect, except in flight to other lands. Thus Spain lost 
some of her most valuable sons. 

Simultaneously with the revival of zeal in the Catholic 
Church, and growing out of it, there was a revival in 
monasticism. Old orders were reorganized 
New Monastic an d given a new impetus. Matteo de Bassi put 
new life into the Franciscan order by raising 
within it the Capuchins. Jean de Barriere stimulated the 
Cistercians to new activity. A new society was founded 
by Gaetano de Thiene in conjunction with Caraffa, and 
called the order of the Theatins, having as its main ob- 
ject the education of the clergy. Filippo Neri organized 
the priests of the Oratory, chiefly for the purposes of 
studying the Bible, and prayer. 

But by far the most important and aggressive of 

the new organizations was that founded by Ignatius 

Loyola (1491-1556). Loyola was a Spaniard 

The Jesuits: who, while serving his country against the 

French, received, in the siege of Pampeluna, a 

wound and was compelled to spend some time in con- 



226 CHURCH HISTORY. 

finement. He read during this period the history of the 
saints, and was moved to dedicate himself as a spiritual 
knight to the service of the Holy Virgin. He moreover 
conceived the plan of a new order and laid it before his 
friends and associates at Paris, among whom were Xavier, 
Faber, Lainez and others. 

These men banded themselves together under the head- 
ship of Loyola, and resolved to spend their lives in the 
Holy Land in the effort to convert the Saracens. They 
took pledges to observe poverty, chastity and obedience 
to the pope. The order was sanctioned in 1540; but 
instead of being allowed to go to the Holy Land, inas- 
much as they had put themselves under the direct control 
of the pope, they were assigned the task of fighting 
Protestantism in Europe. They were ordained to the 
priesthood, and undertook to preach, hear confessions, 
manage consciences, and educate the young. 

The constitution of the order was matured upon the 
basis furnished by Loyola himself in his book, The 
Spiritual Exercises, In order to enter the 
Constitution. Society a candidate must, for the space of four 
weeks, train himself to the habit of withdraw- 
ing from the world, resisting its enticements, realizing 
through the imagination the value of spiritual exercises, 
and renouncing one's own will. After this preparation 
the candidate must pass through four stages into full 
membership, viz., the novitiate, the scholastic stage, the 
coadjutorship, and the full profession. Within the society 
every member must yield absolute and unquestioning 
obedience to his superiors. But the whole society is 
more than any member, even the president, and for suffi- 
cient reasons the president himself might be disciplined 
or deposed. 

The ethical principles of the Jesuits are: (1) The 
doctrine of probabilism, or that it is sufficient to act upon 
an opinion of probable truth. (2) The sanctification of 
the means by the end. (3) The right to make mental 
reservations. (4) The distinction between theological 
obedience and philosophical obedience, and (5) The 
power of the people. This last principle laid them open 



THE COUNTER-REFORMATION. 



227 



to suspicion of working against the princes, and brought 
them into political conflict with rulers. 

In obedience to the pope's desire the Jesuits began to 
work against Protestantism at once. They chose Sweden 

as their base of operations. By intrigue and 
Labors. deception they drew king John III. into a 

secret Romanism which he tried to impose on 
the country, under their direction. But the popular feel- 
ing was too strong for the success of the scheme. Charles 
IX. put an end to the work of the order in Sweden by 
legislation against Roman Catholicism. In Germany the 
success of the order was greater. In Bavaria, especially, 
they managed to arrest the progress of Protestantism, and 
fixed that country in the Roman Catholic faith. But the 
Jesuits did not limit their activity to political intrigues. 
They realized from the beginning the importance of early 
impressions on the mind, and systematically labored to 
obtain control of the educational centers of Europe. 
Besides elaborating a strong scheme of lower grade 
education, they took possession by degrees of the uni- 
versities of Vienna and Prague and exerted thence a vast 
influence. 

The ambition of the early Jesuits, however, was not 
bounded by the limits of Europe ; they outlined a plan 

of foreign missionary work, which looked for- 
Missions. ward to nothing short of the conversion of the 

whole world to the Roman Catholic faith. 
Mohammedans, Pagans, Christians of every name were 
to be brought, according to this grand conception, into 
subjection to the master of the order, the pope. They 
planted their mission stations among the Oriental churches 
of the Nestorian, Armenian, Coptic, and Abyssinian com- 
munions. They entered India through the trading- 
stations of the Portuguese. The leader at this point was 
Xavier, Between 1542 and 1552 he baptized scores of 
thousands at Goa, Travancore and through the southern 
portion of India in general. The reasons for this suc- 
cess were, probably, first the emotional mode of Xavier's 
presentation of Christ as the great sympathizer with 
human woe. The religion of Buddha, by cultivating this 



228 CHURCH HISTORY. 

side of Indian character, had paved the way for the mis- 
sionaries' success. But Xavier also used a large degree 
of accommodation to heathenism in his preaching. So 
long as the heathen took upon himself the name of Christ 
and submitted to the ordinance of baptism, he was 
allowed to retain practically the whole of his heathenism. 
From India Xavier passed into Japan, and in a short 
time reported a church of 600,000. Thence he passed into 
China; where, dying, he left the work in the hands of 
successors who carried it on into the seventeenth century. 
Early in the seventeenth century (1622) the Congregation 
De Propagaiida Fide was formed in order more systematic- 
ally to carry on this work. A school for training mission- 
aries was soon attached to the Congregation, called the 
College of the Propaganda, and proved a most efficient 
means of reinforcing the mission stations. 



CHAPTER IV. 

STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM ON THE CONTINENT. 

In 1555 Charles V., wearied by constant wars and un- 
remitting cares, laid aside the responsibilities and honors 

of public life and betook himself to a monas- 
Charksv 11 ° f tei T- The em P^ re passed into the hands of 

Ferdinand I. (1556-1564) and the domains 
which he ruled by virtue of dynastic control in Spain, 
Italy, and the Netherlands, were inherited by his son Philip 
II. (1555-1598). So long as Charles held sway in the 
Netherlands the only incidents to which the Reformation 
led in those provinces were the persecutions of those who 
declared their adherence to it. Charles issued a series 
of edicts called placards, aiming at the extinction of the 
Reformation. 

Philip II. was more rather than less inclined than 
Charles to exterminate Protestantism from his dominions. 

Moreover in the Netherlands, unlike his father, 
the Netherlands. ne was n °t popular, but as a Spaniard and on 

account of his personal peculiarities, distrusted 
and feared. He ruled the country through regents, and 
made the mistake of selecting not some of the native 
nobles to act in this capacity, but Margaret of Parma 
jointly with Granvelle, bishop of Arras. To aggravate 
the alienation between himself and the nobles and people 
caused by this step, Philip further resolved on the creation 
of a large number of new bishoprics. These bishoprics 
were to be clothed with inquisitorial functions. What 
the king aimed at was the utter extirpation of heresy, and 
he could only depend on such representatives of his 

229 



230 CHURCH HISTORY. 

policy as the new regent and the bishops to execute his 
will. 

Of the native nobles the most prominent were William, 
Prince of Orange, and counts Egmont and Horn. 
William was the offspring of Lutheran parents, 
H h e nand nceS ° f but his training had been altogether Catholic. 
He was befriended by and returned the 
friendship of Charles V. He broke away from Philip, 
however, when he discovered that the king was intent 
through fair means or foul to overrule the will of the 
people and nobles of the Netherlands, and reduce the 
land to a mere dependency of Spain. His course was 
thus determined at first by patriotism. Later he adopted 
the Reformed faith. 

The occasion for the open break between the nobles 
and Philip was the establishment of a branch of the in- 
quisition in the land. Some five hundred of 
Philip Wlth them banded themselves in the Compromise, 
a compact whose sole aim was resistance to 
the Spaniard (1566). William, unable to indorse the plans 
of his fellow nobles, withdrew from the country ; but 
when Philip by the use of false promises enticed Egmont 
and Horn into his power and had them beheaded, William 
returned and was put at the head of the movement. 
Meantime a wave of iconoclasm swept over the land and 
lashed both parties to open war. Philip sent the Duke 
of Alva with an army of 10,000 Spaniards to put down 
the nobles. Alva established the Bloody Council and 
resorted to horrible atrocities in order to intimidate the 
people. But though he destroyed and persecuted, he 
was unable to quell the spirit of rebellion. He was re- 
called and succeeded by Requescens, and later by Don 
John. But neither were these leaders able to suppress 
the rising spirit of nationality, now distinguished by the 
additional trait of a new faith. William obtained several 
victories by land and by sea, and in 1576 managed to 
unite the provinces under the Pacification of Ghent. 
According to the compact so called, the Catholic and 
Protestant provinces made common cause against the 
Spaniards. 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM ON THE CONTINENT. 2 *l 

Alexander of Parma was now appointed by Philip to 
retrieve some of the losses of Spain under the pre- 
ceding regents. He did indeed succeed 
Formation of i n breaking the Pacification of Ghent bv 

the Dutch , . i & a-.it • r • i J 

Republic. drawing the Catholic provinces out of it, but 

this only led to the formation of the Utrecht 
Union, 1579, which ultimately grew into the Dutch 
Republic. Meantime William himself was outlawed. 
Six attempts to assassinate him were made under the 
stimulus of the promise of a bonus to be paid by Philip 
to his murderer. A seventh proved successful. 

But William had laid the foundations deep and strong, 
and his son Maurice carried on the work of building 

the superstructure. After twenty-five years, 
Prince Maurice, mostly of bloody war, this prince succeeded 

in 1609 in ridding the land of the Spaniards, 
and in the Treaty of Westphalia Holland was recognized 
as independent (1648). 

In France, just as Henry II. was making a determined 
effort to annihilate Protestantism, his life was cut short 

by accident. With the accession of Francis 
He a n^ e iT der II., Catherine de Medici and the house of 

Guise came into prominence. The king fell 
completely into the power of the two brothers, Francis 
Duke of Guise and the cardinal of Lorraine. The Bour- 
bons and the Chatillons, whose voice in the government 
should have had more weight than that of the Guises, 
were drawn into the Protestant fold. Political motives 
became inextricably mixed with the religious situation. 
The Huguenots came forward as a political party. In 
the conflict which naturally followed, the heroic qualities 
of the admiral Coligny came into play. But the king 
was on the side of the Catholics and the Guises, and was 
preparing for a definite and vigorous effort at the sup- 
pression of Protestantism when he suddenly died (1560). 
With the accession of his brother to the throne, the 
aspect of affairs was slightly altered. Charles IX. (1560- 

1574) was not of age, and his mother, Cathe- 
Chariesix. r i ne de Medici acted as regent. She was 

jealous of the power of the Guises and not 



232 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



over scrupulous about the means she used in securing 
her ends. The Protestants could help her in her plans 
to obtain complete control as against the Guises. For 
some time therefore Protestantism was unmolested. At a 
conference held at Poissy, 1561, an attempt was made to 
bring the parties to a peaceful reunion. Beza here pre- 
sented the cause of the Reformed ; and while the con- 
ference did not accomplish the end sought through it, the 
edict of St. Germain, which closely followed it, officially 
recognized Protestantism and legalized it within certain 
narrow limitations. 

But the Guises would allow no toleration to the Hugue- 
nots. Scarcely two months had passed since the issuing 
of the edict of St. Germain before they vio- 
Germain! St ' lated it treacherously in the massacre of 
Vassy. Thus the civil w r ar was renewed with 
greater violence than ever. The Huguenots were de- 
feated at Dreux (1562), and the Duke of Guise was assas- 
sinated by one of their number. Twice the war was in- 
terrupted and twice renewed by the violation of the terms 
of peace. Finally in the treaty of St. Germain (1570), 
the terms of a lasting agreement were reached. Coligny 
returned to the royal court and was well received by the 
king and by Catherine de Medici. 

The noble qualities of the great Huguenot began to 
draw the admiration and respect of the young king. The 
jealousy of the queen mother, allayed for a 
st^BarthJio t * me ^y tne lapse of the Guises, was roused 
mew. and directed against Coligny. She was recon- 

ciled to the Guises and by their aid planned 
the memorable massacre of St. Bartholomew. On Sunday 
the 24th of August, 1572, which was the day of St. Barthol- 
omew, at a concerted signal, a general massacre of Prot- 
estants was begun in Paris and spread to most of the 
cities of the realm. Henry of Guise took upon himself 
the murder of Coligny and executed his purpose in a most 
brutal manner. The number of Protestants slain has 
been estimated at from twenty thousand to one hundred 
thousand. The Catholics throughout Europe did not at- 
tempt to conceal their approval of and joy at this infamous 



STRUGCLES OF PROTESTANTISM ON THE CONTINENT. 233 

piece of treachery. It was even celebrated with Te Dennis 
at Rome, by order of the pope. 

The king Charles IX., who had against his will given 
his consent to the massacre, died two years later (1574), 

insane with remorse. His brother Henry III. 
Henry in. (1574-1589) began as an implacable enemy of 

the Huguenots and an active participant in 
the plot of St. Bartholomew. But he changed his policy 
for a neutral or comprehensive one, and became the fast 
friend of his kinsman, Henry of Navarre, who was now 
the leader of the Protestants. Henry of Guise organized 
the Catholic League to put down Protestantism. When, 
in 1584, by the death of the direct heir to the throne, 
Henry of Navarre was left next in line of succession, the 
League made it its object to prevent his ever reigning. 
The king became jealous and caused the assassination of 
Guise. But he was himself assassinated by a par- 
tisan of Guise, and thus the crown came to Henry of 
Navarre. 

Henry IV. (1589-1610) pressed his claim to the throne 
successfully, in spite of the Catholic League, but wishing 

to rule over a contented people, he yielded to 
Henry of the entreaties of his Catholic friends and ad- 

rsavarre. . , . _, . , . 

Edict of Nantes.visers and went over to the Catholic com- 
munion in 1593 without formality. But Henry 
wished his Protestant subjects to be content also, and in 
the edict of Nantes (1598) granted them the liberties for 
which they had fought so heroically. Under this docu- 
ment as a Magna Charta they enjoyed toleration for 
nearly a century. 

In Germany both Catholics and Protestants manifested 
dissatisfaction with the terms of the Peace of Augsburg. 
The Calvinists especially could not live content under this 
peace. Their very existence was of doubtful legality, as 
the peace only recognized the adherents of the Augsburg 
Confession. These tokens of discontent remained, how- 
ever, below the surface for fifty years or more. The first 
occasion on which open hostilities between Protestants 
and Catholics broke out was in the case of Donauworth. 
This free city was put under the ban by the emperor 



234 CHURCH HISTORY. 

Rudolph II. because its citizens had broken up a Roman 
Catholic procession. Maximilian of Bavaria seized the 
city in execution of the ban and annexed it to his own 
domains (1607). 

Anticipating further troubles, the Protestants formed 
the Protestant Union (1608). The Catholics followed 
the example by organizing the Catholic League 
^? i ™g a ^, the (i6o9). During the same year Rudolph put 
War/ earS forth the Letter of Majesty, extending 
materially the privileges of the Protestants of 
Bohemia. He allowed the inhabitants of this country to 
adopt the Utraquist confession of 1575, and bestowed on 
the knights, the lords and the royal cities the right of 
building churches. But Rudolph was being gradually 
supplanted by his brother Matthias (1612-1619), who 
was bound by oath not to molest the Protestants of 
Bohemia. Yet in violation of this oath, he forbade the 
building of a Protestant church. The Protestant Union 
interfered in behalf of the Bohemians, and a war was 
begun which in various parts and phases lasted for thirty 
years. 

The first phase of the Thirty- Years' War lasted from 
1618 to 1623, and was concerned with the status of Prot- 
estantism in Bohemia. The Protestant 
Second 1 Periods. Union, under the generalship of Mansfeld, 
obtained some decided advantages at first, 
but were worsted and the struggle seemed about to 
end in the transfer of the electoral power from the 
Palatine to the Duke of Bavaria. At this point the 
king of Denmark interfered in behalf of the Palatine and 
Protestantism. This ushered the second phase lasting 
till 1629. The brilliant Wallenstein was secured to con- 
duct the war against Christian of Denmark and the Prot- 
estants. The Catholics seemed again on the point of 
obtaining the final decisive victory when the emperor saw 
fit to conclude peace with Christian and issue the Edict 
of Restitution, reenacting the Peace of Augsburg and 
definitely limiting it to the adherents of the Augsburg 
Confession. 

The execution of the Edict of Restitution was com- 



STRUGGLES OF PROTESTANTISM ON THE CONTINENT. 



235 



mitted to Wallenstein. It was no easy task, as the Prot- 
estants began to regard it as the first step in a 
Adoiphus. process which would end in the extinction of 
their form of faith. Accordingly when Gus- 
tavus Adoiphus of Sweden landed in Germany, they rallied 
about him and in the battle of Leipzig obtained a victory 
over Tilly. Gustavus Adoiphus was an earnest Protes- 
tant and was led as much by religious zeal as by political 
motives in coming to the succor of German Protestantism. 
The third phase of the Thirty-Years' War, ushered by his 
appearance on the scene, was a triumphal march in so long 
as he lived. But unfortunately he fell in the battle of Liit- 
zen (1632), and the Protestants saw themselves compelled 
once more to submit to an ill-defined modus vivendi in the 
Peace of Prague (1535). 

Meantime Richelieu perceived that the successes of 
the house of Hapsburg were to prove injurious to the ad- 
vancement of France in Europe. Catholic as 
Richelieu. he was, therefore, and strenuous within France 
to put down Protestantism, he threw the 
weight of the foreign policy of France into the scales 
against Catholicism and in favor of the Protestants in 
the empire. In the fourth and last phase of the Thirty- 
Years' War (1635-1648), which degenerated into a bar- 
barous pillaging expedition, the French statesman suc- 
ceeded in reducing the empire to the necessity of clos- 
ing the struggle permanently in the Treaty of West- 
phalia. 

The Treaty of Westphalia (1648) provided first of all 
for the designation of a year which should be considered 
the " normal year." This was fixed as 1624. 
Westphalia. Whatever the faith of a state was during the 
normal year, it was to remain thenceforth. 
Lutheranism and Calvinism were to be recognized as 
equal in rights to Catholicism. The imperial power was 
limited by the enlargement of the powers of the Diet to 
which Sweden was admitted as a member. Holland and 
Switzerland were recognized as independent, and finally 
France was given territorial concessions in Alsace and 
access to the Rhine. This Treaty could not fail to make 



236 CHURCH HISTORY. 

an epoch in European history. Its chief consequence, 
however, was the establishment of the Reformation on a 
strong foothold. 

The Oriental churches remained in a stationary con- 
dition theologically throughout the Middle Ages. The 
Nestorians settled in Persia, especially in the 
Churches ntal region around lake Oroomiah ; the Jacobites 
in Syria, and the Coptic and Abyssinian 
churches continued in the beaten paths opened by their 
respective predecessors in antiquity. The patriarchate 
of Constantinople also, after the schism of the eleventh 
century, lapsed into lethargy. When Protestantism arose 
in the sixteenth century an effort was made to find a 
common platform for union with the Greek Church in the 
common opposition of both the systems to the supremacy 
of the pope. But the essential differences between Greek 
Catholicism and Protestantism were too great to admit 
of the union desired. 

A definite effort was made, however, to introduce 
Protestantism into the Church of the East by Cyril Lucar, 
patriarch of Constantinople (1568-1638). 
Patrlarchof Lucar was a native of Crete and a member of 
Constantinople, the Greek Church ; but having traveled ex- 
tensively in Western Europe he came to the 
conviction that the beliefs and practices of the Reformed 
churches of the Calvinistic type were more in accordance 
with the teachings of the Scriptures than any other form 
of Christianity. On his return from his travels his learn- 
ing and experience won for him the position of patriarch 
of Alexandria (1601). From this position he was later 
promoted to the higher patriarchate of Constantinople 
(162 1). He now sought to introduce the Reformed 
doctrines into the Greek Church. But the Jesuits who 
were quick to perceive the consequences to the Roman 
Catholic cause from the conversion of the Greek world 
to the Reformed faith, if it should ever occur, compassed 
his deposition, and finally his execution, on the charge of 
high treason, by the sultan of Turkey. 



CHAPTER V. 

CHURCHES OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 

When Edward VI. died, in 1553, the crown reverted 
to Henry VI II. 's oldest daughter, Mary. As the daughter 

of Catherine of Aragon, she was not only a 
Accession of Catholic, but must have looked at the whole 

movement as a source of personal offence, 
since it made her own status a doubtful one. She lost no 
time in putting forth efforts for the restoration of Cathol- 
icism. She displaced the married clergy, abolished the 
Prayer Book, renounced the supremacy of the national 
Church, and took measures to enforce the laws against 
heresy. 

The last of these steps led to a series of persecutions 
which justly fastened the adjective Bloody to Mary's 

name. Among the most distinguished victims 
Persecutions, of these persecutions were such men as Ridley, 

Latimer and Hooper, all of whom were burned 
at the stake. Cranmer was soon to follow, but did not, 
like them, in enduring his martyrdom, display the spirit of 
heroism. He was induced to sign a recantation, but with- 
drew this later and was burned. The queen surrounded 
herself with Catholics, made Cardinal Pole archbishop of 
Canterbury, and seemed to be on the threshold of a career 
of violent work in the extermination of Protestantism, 
when she died in 1558. 

It was with great relief that England saw Elizabeth 
ascend the throne. Elizabeth was a Protestant of a very 

conservative type. Parliament immediately 
Ei£ab S eth. of passed an act restoring the supremacy over 

the Church to the crown. Later (1563), the 

237 



238 CHURCH HISTORY. 

Forty-two Articles were revised and reduced to the 
Thirty-Nine which ever since have constituted the Anglican 
creed. The Act of Supremacy had been closely followed 
by an Act of Uniformity, according to which dissent from 
the State Church was not allowed. A Court of High 
Commission was further established (1583) to take 
cognizance of the infringement of these and other reli- 
gious laws. 

The English Church, however, had not yet come to 
one mind with respect to all religious forms, and the at- 
tempt to coerce uniformity was bound to result 
Puiftanism. m tne development of dissenting forms. These 
now began to show themselves in the move- 
ment which afterwards grew into Puritanism. Puritanism 
was the natural unfolding of Hooper's ideas. It began 
with the denial of the necessity of certain external forms 
and ceremonies, such as the wearing of vestments, the 
making of the sign of the cross in baptism, kneeling at 
the Lord's Supper, and the like. The Puritans averred 
that these formalities were too closely allied with the 
papal idea of the priesthood of the ministry, to be allowed 
with safety in a church that had broken loose from papacy. 
With Thomas Cartwright another point of difference 
manifested itself. This was as to the true scriptural form 
of Church government. The earlier Anglican leaders held 
that episcopacy was convenient and to be preferred, but 
not obligatory. Cartwright became convinced by the 
study of the Scriptures that Presbyterianism was the only 
form of polity known to the New Testament. As against 
this teaching, the Anglican Bancroft now came forward 
with the view that episcopacy was of divine origin, while 
Hooper, on the other hand, taught within the Anglican 
Church that the Church was endowed with the right and 
the duty of legislating regarding its own form of polity 
and might change it from time to time. 

All the above, however, held that the State should be 
associated with the Church in the exercise of authority, at 
least to the extent of taking cognizance of 
independency, and punishing religious offences, such as blas- 
phemy, heresy, and disobedience. A new 



CHURCHES OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 



239 



branch of Puritanism now appeared and disputed this 
point. This was Independency. The Independents have 
sometimes been called Brownists, from Robert Browne 
(who is the first known leader to teach their system), and 
Separatists because they advocated separation from the 
state Church, a step which the other Puritans considered 
as yet in the light of schism. John Robinson further un- 
folded the Independent plan, as vesting authority only in 
the local church or congregation. Thus Puritanism was 
differentiated into three varieties — that which accepted 
episcopacy and remained in undisputed connection with 
the state Church ; that which held to presbyterial govern- 
ment and still remained in connection with the Church, 
but in a doubtful relation ; and that which broke loose 
from the state Church. The last was made the first subject 
of persecution. It was obliged, in the persons of its 
adherents to flee from the country. John Robinson 
and a congregation of Independents emigrated to Hol- 
land. 

The controversy between Puritans and Episcopalians 
was bequeathed by Queen Elizabeth to her successor, 
James I. (VI. of Scotland, 1603-1625). James 
James I. was the son of Mary of Scots and Darnley, and 

had been brought up as a Presbyterian by the 
Scottish nobles. He prided himself on his knowledge of 
theology, and was intolerant towards those who differed 
from him. One thousand Non-conformist (Puritan) 
ministers presented him a petition (called the Millenary 
petition from the number who signed it) on his way to 
London to assume the government, complaining of the 
" burden of human rites and ceremonies," and asking for 
a purer doctrine and a more godly ministry. He set it 
aside unceremoniously, and began his reign on the prin- 
ciple that monarchy in the State requires episcopacy in the 
Church. " No bishop, no king," was his motto. At the 
Hampton Conference, held the year following his acces- 
sion, he plainly showed his partiality for episcopacy, and 
called on the Puritans " to conform or they should hear 
of it." 

Yet out of a suggestion made at this conference grew 



240 CHURCH HISTORY. 

the version of the Bible in English, which has been known 
as the Authorized or King James's ver- 
Authorized sion. The king was not well pleased with 
the r Bibie. the Geneva Bible, because in certain mar- 
ginal notes it exhibited some disrespect to the 
royal office. The new version was finished in 1611, and 
was based on Tyndale's translation, other translations 
also being used to correct and improve it. Scholars 
of the best type were charged with the work, and the re- 
sult proved a lasting monument to counterbalance many 
unfavorable features of James's reign. 

James was not severe towards the Puritans only. He 
was quite as harsh with Catholics. Several of these 
combined in a plot to blow up the house of 
c e a!hdics againSt Parliament with gunpowder while the king 
was within. It was discovered in time and 
prevented. Another Catholic rebellion in Ireland, in the 
county of Ulster, was put down, and the properties of the 
Catholics w r ere confiscated by order of the king, and be- 
stowed on Presbyterian colonists from Scotland. Thus 
arose the Scotch- Irish Church of the county of Ulster, or 
more properly of the North of Ireland. 

In England, the king's policy began to take practical 
shape when Whitgift, archbishop of Canterbury, and 
Bancroft, of London, afterwards successor of 
Parikment th Whitgift at Canterbury, undertook, with the 
king's approval, to suppress Puritanism. But 
Puritanism had grown and found expression in Parlia- 
ment, and every effort to put it down met with the oppo- 
sition of the House of Commons. Bancroft advised the 
king to do away with this branch of the government. This 
was a result which James could not reach at one step. He 
therefore simply bent his course in the direction of the prel- 
ate's advice. Finally, in 1620, he deemed the time ripe 
for the decisive step, taking absolute authority into his own 
hands. He openly denied the right of the people's repre- 
sentatives to interfere in the government, and dissolved 
Parliament. The storm of opposition which arose in con- 
sequence of this course convinced him of his mistake. 
He died five years later, leaving the problem of dispensing 
with Parliament, to his son, Charles, to solve. 



CHURCHES OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 241 

Charles I. (1625-1649) was better qualified than his 
father to deal with difficulties. He was a more dignified, 
skillful and courageous man. His views of 
Charles i. government were the same as those of James, 
and in religion he was bigoted and otherwise obstinate 
and full of dissimulation. He regarded himself bound 
neither by his word nor by his oath. When he took the 
reins of government he found an empty treasury, a lost 
credit, and a Parliament alert to the danger of losing its 
prerogatives and reluctant to vote him the money he 
needed. After dissolving three Parliaments between 
1625 and 1629, he resolved to govern without that body 
and for eleven years summoned none to meet. 

In his arbitrary and suicidal policy the king found two 
supporters, — the earl of Strafford and William Laud, 
Strafford and bishop of London until 1633, and archbishop 
Laud. The of Canterbury afterwards. By advice of Laud 
Book of sports. charles revived the Book of Sports. This 

was first put forth by James I. in 16 18 as a strategic 
means against the Puritans in the matter of Sabbath ob- 
servance. James alleged that the strictness of the Puri- 
tans drove many into popery. He therefore devised that 
after divine service on Sundays the people should be rec- 
ommended such recreations as dancing, leaping, archery, 
the setting up of May-poles and other similar amuse- 
ments. The Book of Sports was to be read in the 
churches. Such was the opposition to it, however, at the 
time, that James suspended its use. This book now 
Charles commanded all ministers to read in church. 
Many of the Puritans abandoned the morning service # 
and held informal services in the afternoon delivering 
" lectures." Archbishop Laud prohibited these lectures 
and caused an intense feeling of hostility to his views 
thereby. 

The attempt of the king to rule without Parliament was 
effectually estopped by the law requiring that all levies 
of money should be ordered by Parliament. The king 

* Others read the book but added at the end, " This is the word 
of a man ;" and then reading the Fourth Commandment remarked, 
4k This is the command of God." 



242 CHURCH HISTORY. 

sought by every device conceivable to evade this law and 
finally came in conflict with Hampden and Oliver Crom- 

Conflictwith we ^ m an e ^ or ^ on tne P art °f Hampden to 
Hampden and resist the illegal taxation. This, with the 
Cromwell. war ^^ Scotland caused by the resistance of 
the Scotch to the episcopal system imposed on the coun- 
try at the instigation of Laud, forced Charles to call the 
" Short" Parliament, so called because it was dissolved 
by the king when he found that it would not vote the 
subsidies he asked for, except on condition that the king 
redress the grievances of the people. 

The " Short " Parliament was followed by the "Long" 
one. This body passed an enactment, which the king 
Lon g Pariiament. was compelled to sign for fear of something 
Execution of worse, that it should not be dissolved except 
Laud° r an by its own consent. It then proceeded to 

impeach Strafford and Laud, and finding them 
guilty of high treason condemned and executed them. 
Then the Court of High Commission and the Star Cham- 
ber, an ancient court of justice to which arbitrary powers 
had been granted for the purpose of expediting clear 
cases, found now abusing its powers in obedience to Laud 
and the king, were both abolished. The relations of the 
king and Parliament grew daily in tension. 

Charles consented to the measures taken by Parliament, 
but only in order to mature some plan for a final onslaught 

on the popular leaders. When he resorted 
Civil War. to this step the popular feeling rose so high 

that he was compelled to fly to York. The 
Civil War then followed. In this memorable struggle at 
first the Cavaliers and Roundheads seemed equally 
balanced ; but when Cromwell assumed the command of 
the Puritans, affairs took a sharp turn. In the battles 
of Marston Moor (1644) and Naseby (1645), the Parlia- 
mentary party defeated the Royalists and the king saved 
himself only by flying for refuge to the Scots. 

A division now arose among the victorious Puritans. 
Some would have been satisfied to reinstate Charles with 

new limitations to his power and safeguards 

Execution of • . t • • .i «tm 

the King. against his usurping authority. Ihese were 

mostly Presbyterians. The Independents 



CHURCHES OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 243 

under Cromwell wished a more radical change. The Royal- 
ist party soon determined which of these sides should 
prevail. By their violent outbreaks they convinced the 
moderate Puritans that the only safe course lay in radical 
measures. The king was tried by Parliament, found 
guilty of high treason and executed in 1649. 

In Scotland the attempts at church reform preceding 
1557 may be characterized as a series of sporadic out- 
breaks of opposition against the Roman sys- 
scit°iand in tem ky individuals. Patrick Hamilton began 
preaching reform in 1528 and was seized and 
burned. George Wishart appeared fifteen years later 
and met with a better reception on the part of the nobles, 
but he also was seized by order of Archbishop Beaton 
and burned. Beaton, however, paid the penalty for this 
and other persecutions by his life. He was assassinated 
in his own castle in 1546. John Knox, was seized and 
imprisoned for alleged complicity in this crime. But 
being set free in 1549, he fled to Geneva to escape the 
persecutions of the "Bloody" Mary. 

[Meantime the Reformed views gained ground in the 
realm. At the death of James V. in 1542 the govern- 
ment passed into the hands of his wife Mary 
°f rg h ni c ati ° n °^ Guise as regent during the minority of 
gation, and the the infant Mary, afterwards Queen of Scots. 
Covenant. ^ s ^e regent was a strong Catholic it came 
to pass that the struggle for reform was reduced in Scot- 
land into a conflict for the ascendancy between the 
crown and clergy on the one side, and the nobles and 
people on the other. In 1557 the leading nobles and 
people organized themselves under the name of The 
Congregation of Christ and made a covenant that they 
would aid each other in the exercise of their religious rights. 
The marriage of the young queen with Francis of France 
threatened not only to make Scotland a part of France 
but eventually to draw England into the same relation. 
To defend the threatened independence of England there- 
fore, more than for any other reason, Queen Elizabeth in- 
terfered with an English army, and compelled the French 
to withdraw and leave the government in the hands of 



244 CHURCH HISTORY. 

the Council of Lords in 1560. The regent died the same 
year, and the Scottish Parliament proclaimed the Re- 
formed faith to be the religion of Scotland. 

John Knox (1505-1572) at once became the leader and 
good genius of the Scottish church. The form of govern- 
ment adopted for the Church was Presby- 
john Knox. terian, with which Knox had become familiar 
in Geneva. The first General Assembly of 
Scotland met in 1560. A Confession of Faith drawn up 
by Knox was adopted by Parliament and the organiza- 
tion seemed complete. To satisfy the law which re- 
quired that only bishops should receive certain revenues, 
certain individuals were designated " bishops " without 
prelatic authority, being in fact in some instances nothing 
more than laymen. These were later called " Tulchan " 
bishops.^ 

When Mary came to Scotland to reign in her own per- 
son she intended to restore Roman Catholicism. But in 
Knox she found not only an implacable enemy 
Mary Queen to her plans, but also a private censor of her 
views, who did not mince his words. She was 
allowed to celebrate mass in her own chapel, but was 
plainly told that she was practicing idolatry. She was 
obliged to center her hopes of giving back Scotland to 
Catholicism on the triumph of the French over Elizabeth. 
But even these hopes she was led to abandon when peace 
was concluded between England and France. 

The marriage of Mary with Darnley, the birth of James 
(afterwards James I. of England), the alienation from 
Darnley, his murder, the marriage with Bothwell who 
planned Darnley's murder, all tended to strengthen her 
enemies, and culminated in the cutting short of her reign 
in 1567, only seven years from her accession. She abdi- 
cated in favor of her son at that date, appointing her half- 
brother Murray, a Protestant, as regent. Attempting 

* The termTulchan was applied to them from the fiction which they 
represented, it being the name of the effigy of a calf used in lead- 
ing cows to the milking shed. John Knox, it may be noted, was not 
in favor of this legal fiction, but advocated the policy of diverting 
funds to purposes of education. 



CHURCHES OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 245 

later to regain power, she was defeated, and she precip- 
itately fled to England where her treacherous conduct was 
ended in 1587, leading her to execution. 

John Knox died in 1572. But his mantle fell on an able 
successor in the person of Andrew Melville (1545-1622). 

If Knox laid the foundations of Scotch Pres- 
Andrew Mel- byterianism, Melville built the superstructure. 

With his intense zeal and fearless spirituality 
he combined great learning. He fought vigorously the 
idea of the control of the Church by the State. Step by 
step he gained on the opposition until in 1592 a Second 
Book of Discipline was adopted by Parliament and As- 
sembly which for its thoroughgoing Presbyterianism has 
been called the " Charter of the Kirk." It abolished all 
remnants of episcopacy and, with the exception of the 
right of lay patronage, gave congregations an exclusive 
control in the matter of selecting their ministers. 

When King James became an avowed advocate of 
Episcopalianism, he resolved that he would impose that 

system on Scotland also. As a step in this 
Efforts to direction he induced the General Assembly of 

Episcopahze r . . J 

the church of 161 o to appoint permanent moderators of pres- 
Scotiand. byteries. This was followed, eight years 

later, by the Five Articles of Perth including episcopal 
confirmation, kneeling at the Lord's Supper, observance 
of holidays, private baptism and private administration of 
the Lord's Supper. The churches of Glasgow and St. 
Andrews were made archbishoprics, eleven others were 
raised to bishoprics, and all the Scottish bishops were re- 
quired to be consecrated by bishops of the Church of 
England. 

At this stage of its progress James at his death left the 
work of turning Scotland into episcopacy. Charles at- 
tempted to carry it further. With archbishop 
Restored"*™ 5 ™ Laud to urge him on, he pressed the Scotch to 
the limit of their endurance. A wave of reac- 
tion came on. In 1637 tne memorable "stool-throwing" 
at St. Giles cathedral gave the signal of the uprising 
against the service-book and the other emblems of Angli- 
canism in Scotland. The Covenant was renewed in a 



246 CHURCH HISTORY. 

solemn and impressive manner. The' General Assembly 
of 1638 restored Presbyterianism. Then followed the war 
with Charles which soon became not a war between 
Charles and England on one side with Scotland on the 
other, but a war between Charles and the Royalists on one 
side and the Puritans of England combined with the Pres- 
byterians of Scotland on the other. 



CHAPTER VI. 

THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROTESTANT THEOLOGY. 

The Augsburg Confession prepared by Melanchthon for 
the Diet of Augsburg, which met at Augsburg in 1530, 
with the full approval of Luther, contains the 
Augsburg Con- earliest form of expression given to the the- 
Lod Communes, ology of the Protestants. Side by side with 
this document stood Melanchthon's Loci Com- 
munes. Both of these works were for some time accepted 
as satisfactory expositions of Protestant doctrine. Luther's 
own compositions, the Smalcald Articles and the Cate- 
chisms, did not differ much in substance from these. 

But the fundamental doctrine of Luther — justification 
by faith alone — could be easily pressed to yield extreme 
results. Starting from the position that the 
Antinomianfsm. law is abolished by the coming of the gospel, 
John Agricola, of Eisleben, a professor at 
Wittenberg, taught that the moral law is not obligatory 
under the gospel dispensation, a view which has been de- 
veloped into bald Antinomianism' and was destined to 
prove very troublesome to the Reformers. 

At the other end of the line arose Mysticism, taught by 

Osiander, and independently by Caspar Schwenkfeld. 

Osiander was repelled by the mere limitation 

Mysticism f justification to the external relations of the 

Schwenkfeld , _ J . . . . . . . . . 

and Osiander. believer, and held that in some way Christ 
enters into the believer's being through faith 
and makes him just within, as well as just at the bar of 
God. Schwenkfeld taught the same doctrine, but com- 
bined with it a peculiar view of the incarnation. He 
asserted that the human nature of Christ was different 
from the humanity of other men, being a direct offspring 

247 



248 CHURCH HISTORY. 

of God as well as of the Virgin. It is exalted after the 
completion of Christ's work into perfect participation in 
the divine nature, and in this state becomes the source of 
righteousness to the believer by being infused into his 
nature. 

Luther and Melanchthon remained closely associated 
with one another as long as they were both living. But 
Melanchthon was gradually moved from the 
Melanchthon? P os ^i° ns fi rst held, especially on the necessity 
ians. of specific forms in worship, the nature of the 

Lord's Supper, and the cooperation of the 
human with the divine will in regeneration. With ref- 
erence to each of these points he was followed by a num- 
ber of Lutherans, and thus originated within Germany a 
series of theological controversies in which the special 
followers of Melanchthon were called Philippists or 
Melanchthonians. 

The first of these controversies was perhaps that re- 
garding the legality, or permissibility, of Roman Cath- 
olic forms. The more rigid Lutherans 
Coin?oversy. C looked upon these as sinful in themselves, 
whereas the disciples of Melanchthon thought 
them indifferent in themselves, but liable to become 
idolatrous if performed in the spirit of idolatry. This 
position was termed Adiaphorism # and the controversy, 
the Adiaphoristic controversy. Consistently with their 
view of the practices of the Catholic Church, the Philip- 
pists also held that it was desirable to unite Protestantism 
with Catholicism, and, by force of the same reasons hold- 
ing with greater force, the Lutheran and the Calvinistic 
or Reformed Churches. The strict Lutherans were op- 
posed to this union. 

The Synergistic controversy concerned the work of 
grace in the heart. The Synergists, following Melanchthon, 
held that there was a remnant of ability in the 
Controversy, sinful soul that must be used in cooperation 
with the power of the Spirit to produce re- 
generation. The stricter adherents of the Augsburg Con- 

* adid(popa, things indifferent. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROTESTANT THEOLOGY. 249 

fession, under the leadership of Amsdorf, opposed this 
view and maintained Augustinianism in its purity. An 
opposite extreme was, however, evolved as a consequence 
of the discussion by Flacius. According to this theo- 
logian, original sin was not an accident, but an inherent 
substance. By promulgating this teaching Flacius hoped 
to silence those who asserted that there was a remnant of 
ability in the soul to cooperate with the divine grace. But 
his partisans repudiated the extravagant doctrine, and he 
was expelled and died in extreme poverty. 

By far the most important development within Lutheran- 
ism was induced by Melanchthon's slight change of base on 

the Lord's Supper and was called Crypto-Cal- 
Cjypto-Caivin- vinism The phffippists favored Calvin's 

theory of the real spiritual presence of Christ 
in the sacrament as against the stricter Lutheran theory 
of consubstantiation. The controversy grew so violent 
that the State was drawn into it, taking sides at first with 
the Lutheran view. In 1574 it was made an offense, pun- 
ishable by the civil law, to hold and teach the Calvinistic 
theory. When Christian I. assumed the government of 
the Palatinate, in 1586, there was a temporary reversal of 
the policy of the preceding administration, lasting till 
1591. For the next ten years opposition to Calvinism 
was very violent. A new wave favoring it swept over the 
land and brought the states of Hesse-Cassel, Lippe and 
Brandenburg under its sway. The Lutheran theologians 
waged a bitter warfare against it, but the question re- 
mained for the time an unsettled one. 

Meanwhile, the controversies between Philippists and 
Lutherans had issued in the promulgation of a new creed, 

intended to unite the contending parties. 
Concord. From this design of it, the creed was called 

the Form of Concord (Formula Concordice). 
It was composed by several prominent theologians of the 
Lutheran Church in 1577, and sanctioned and published 
by the elector of Saxony in 1580. It was of the nature 
of a compromise, and while it found many admirers who 
accepted it, it was rejected as too lenient by some, and as 
too rigid by others. 



2 50 CHURCH HISTORY. 

The Reformed theology, as distinguished from the 

Lutheran, may be said to have had two origins. The 

views of Zwingli found expression in the 

fes^nl? C ° n " First and Second Helvetic Confessions 
(1536 and 1566 respectively). Martin Bucer, 
Capito, and Henry Bullinger did what Zwingli him- 
self was not allowed, by his premature death, to accom- 
plish. They presented in systematic form the beliefs 
that had grown, from a study of the Bible, in the region 
of the Swiss Reformer's activity. When Calvin put forth 
his system in his Institutes, a theology of a slightly dif- 
ferent type appeared. Yet its affinity to the Swiss system 
was so great and the difference was so slight that an 
ultimate fusion was not out of the question. 

Calvinism distinctively found expression in the Gal- 
liean Confession, drawn up by an assembly of Reformed 
preachers in 1559, in France, the Belgic 
fession! 1 ° n ~ Confession, composed by Guido de Bres in 
1561, with the aid of other divines, and in the 
Heidelberg Catechism, written by request of the elector 
Frederick III. of Saxony, by Caspar Olevianus and Zacha- 
rias Ursinus, in 1563. The countries represented by these 
documents show a widespread acceptance of the Calvinistic 
system. The Confession of Faith adopted by the Church 
of Scotland, drawn up by John Knox, was not only of the 
same general type, but incorporated the same system 
throughout. 

The Church of Holland gave its adherence to the 
Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession revised 
by Francis Junius, a professor at Leyden. 
The Synods of Antwerp (1566), of Emden 
(1571), and of Dort (1574) formally adopted 
this creed. But the views it expressed were not 
cordially received by many of the ministers of the 
Church. A discussion was started which brought to the 
front Arminius and the Arminian system. James Armin- 
ius (1560-1609) began his labors as a pastor in Amster- 
dam. At the death of Francis Junius he was appointed 
to the professorship of theology at Leyden. Here he 
found Francis Gomarus, one of his colleagues, involved 



Rise of Armin- 
ianism. 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROTESTANT THEOLOGY. 



251 



in a controversy with certain pastors at Delft on the 
question of the order of the divine decrees. Gomarus 
was a supralapsarian and was opposed by the pastors, 
who taught infralapsarianism. Arminius was invited to 
defend his colleague's views, but found on studying the 
subject that he must take more radical ground even than 
the infralapsarians, and totally reject unconditional elec- 
tion. 

Throughout the six years of his professorship at 
Leyden, Arminius developed his views into a system. 
His successor in that position — Simon Epis- 
Jranfe em ° n " copius — went even beyond him in his opposi- 
tion to Calvinism. The controversy was 
complicated by the entrance into it of politics. Prince 
Maurice advocated Calvinism along with his principles 
of a rigid civil rule. The Arminians, led by Hugo 
Grotius, the great jurist, and Olden Barneveld, opposed 
a more liberal system of political government to 
Maurice's strictness. Maurice made it a requisite condi- 
tion for continuance in the ministry that the ministers 
should accept the national Confession. The Arminians 
put forth a Remonstrance, and thenceforth were called 
also Remonstrants. 

The Remonstrance embodied the Arminian system in 
five articles : (1) Conditional election ; (2) Unlimited 
Atonement ; (3) Partial Depravity ; (4) Resistible Grace ; 
(5) Possibility of a lapse from Grace. Against these five 
articles were set over the Five Points of Calvinism, 
embodying in each case the exactly opposite view. Thus 
the controversy was carried on for eight years (16 10- 
1618). All efforts to harmonize the contending sides 
proved fruitless. 

In 1618 the States-General of the Dutch Republic 
called together the great Synod of Dort. This was 
meant to be a general council of all the Cal- 
Synodof Dort. vinistic churches to sit in judgment on 
Arminianism. In answer to invitations, dele- 
gates appeared from Switzerland, Germany and Great 
Britain. Delegates were also appointed by the Reformed 
Church of France, but forbidden by Louis XIII. to 



252 CHURCH HISTORY. 

attend. The great majority of the representatives were 
Calvinists. The Arminians were summoned before the 
Council and given a hearing. Their views were exam- 
ined and condemned, and they were themselves deposed 
and excluded from communion, a number of them being 
even banished the country. The Synod confirmed the 
Heidelberg Catechism and the Belgic Confession, and 
framed its own canons enunciating the so-called Five 
Points of Calvinism. Arminianism was for a time put 
into the background; but somewhat later it reappeared, 
was less severely treated and grew in many places, adopt- 
ing, however, some features that softened it materi- 
ally. 

The theology of the English Church took a definite form 
in the Thirty-nine Articles resulting from the revision of 

the Forty-two in 157 1. The growth of Puri- 
Assemb?y ter tan i sm at the beginning of the seventeenth 

century and the ascendancy of the Parliamen- 
tary party necessitated some change at least in the form of 
the government of the Church. To determine the nature 
and extent of this change the Long Parliament issued in 
1643 an ordinance "for the calling of an Assembly of 
learned and godly divines and others to be consulted 
with by Parliament, for the settling of the Government 
and Liturgy of the Church of England, and for vindicat- 
ing and clearing of the doctrine of the said Church 
from false aspersions and interpretations." 

The Assembly thus summoned met the same 
The Solemn year in the Abbey Church of Westminster and 
Covenant? began on the work of revising the Thirty-nine 

Articles in the interests of clearness and 
simplicity. It had spent ten weeks in the consideration 
of the first fifteen articles when Parliament entered 
into a Solemn League and Covenant with Scotland, 
including among other things an agreement that the 
ecclesiastical system in both countries should be the 
same, and, though its precise nature was not defined in 
the Covenant, it was stipulated that "the Word of God 
and the example of the best Reformed churches" should 
furnish the models. A new order was issued by Parlia- 



THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROTESTANT THEOLOGY. 



253 



ment directing the Assembly to "confer among them- 
selves, of such a discipline and government as may be 
best agreeable to God's Holy Word, and most apt to 
procure and preserve the peace of the Church at home, 
and nearer agreement with the Church of Scotland, and 
the Reformed churches abroad." 

Thus the Assembly left the work of revising the 
Thirty-nine Articles and turned to that of providing a 

new constitution for the Church of England. 
Work of the The first part of the new work proved com- 
AssembTy.^ paratively easy. The Directory of Worship 

was the earliest reported from the committee 
to which it had been referred, and was disposed of 
quickly and without much discussion. The next subject 
was that of a form of government. This was not as easily 
managed. Four distinct parties existed in the Church, viz. 
— the Episcopalians, the Presbyterians, the Independents, 
and the Erastians. Of these the last three were repre- 
sented in the Assembly, the Presbyterians being the most 
numerous, and ably supported by the Scottish delegates. 
The Independents, though few, were able and learned, 
and exceedingly tenacious. They were moreover assured 
of strong backing outside of Parliament. The Erastians 
— so-called from Erastus, a Heidelberg theologian whose 
views they had adopted — held that the Church should 
have no government of its own. The ministry should be 
limited to the functions of preaching and the adminis- 
tration of the ordinances. Discipline both civil and 
religious should be administered by the State. This 
theory was pleasing to many statesmen in Parliament. 
In such a divided state the Assembly consumed much 
time in the debate on the details of the question before it, 
recurring over and over again to the same arguments. 
At the end of nearly four years the debate was closed 
and the form of government adopted. The Assembly 
then addressed itself to the task of formulating the 
doctrinal standards. The Confession of Faith and the 
Catechisms were agreed to and the work was submitted 
to Parliament for ratification. The Assembly was then 
resolved into a court for the trial and examination of 



254 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



ministers, and thus continued till Cromwell dissolved the 
Long Parliament, April 20, 1653. 

Laelius Socinus (1525-1562), of Siena, was one of the 
earliest in the Reformation period to push his intellectual 
objections to the belief in the divinity of 
Sodnianism. Jesus Christ. He did not conceal his views, 
but, on the other hand, he did not teach 
them with the design of organizing an anti-Trinitarian 
sect. His nephew Faustus (1539-1604), inheriting the 
papers of his uncle, formulated these views more fully, 
and, taking them into Poland, where there were already a 
number of Unitarians existing as scattered individuals, 
he organized a Unitarian community. The beliefs of the 
Socini were incorporated into the Racovian Catechism, 
and their system is known as Socinianism. They held 
to the Bible as absolute authority, but denied that it 
taught the preexistence or divinity of Jesus Christ, or 
the vicarious atonement. Jesus, according to them, is a 
revealer of truth primarily. 

Besides leading into the theological systems already 

noticed, the Reformation proved to be the occasion for 

the development of certain anti-ecclesiastical 

Menno abaptistS ' tenc ' enc ^ es ' which had been smouldering 
during the Middle Ages. The chief channel 
through which these now found vent were the views and 
practices of the Anabaptists. The Anabaptists, however, 
cannot be regarded as a uniform or compact body with a 
definite system of beliefs. They agreed in rejecting the 
validity of infant baptism, and in requiring the rebaptism 
of all who may have been baptized as infants. But, this 
doctrine apart, they differed from one another in other 
essential matters ; some were very extravagant in their 
claims, and immoral as well as offensive in their prac- 
tices. For these they were naturally held in detestation 
and punished. Others were quite moderate and script- 
ural in both belief and practice. One of these latter — 
Menno Simonis — obtained a powerful hold on the 
Anabaptists as a body, and softened the harshness of 
their views, and unified them under evangelical forms of 
expression and worship. A large section of the body has 
borne his name as a denomination. 



CHAPTER VII. 

THE POLITICAL CHANGES AND THE CATHOLIC 
CHURCH. 

The Treaty of Westphalia was followed by rapid and 
radical changes in the political complexion of Europe. 

States that had held almost unlimited power 
StTy b thT ghtdwindled and disappeared, while others 
Treaty of West- that had been content to occupy a secondary 

place rose into the highest rank and acquired 
great prestige and influence. The Holy Roman empire 
was, by the very terms of the Treaty of Westphalia, 
shorn of its importance, and began to recede into the 
background, until, towards the end of the period under 
consideration, it was nothing more than a mere name, 
and, only a few years after the close of it, became extinct 
even as a name, by the abdication of Francis II. (1806). 
Poland, a powerful state, and prominent at the time of 
the conclusion of the treaty, holding the electorate of 
Brandenburg as a fief, was, before the French Revolution, 
prostrated and dismembered, and disappeared from the 
map of Europe. Sweden, which under Gustavus Adolphus 
had taken the part of a first-rate nation, fell into a 
subordinate place again soon afterwards. Spain also 
steadily declined in consequence of the repressive and 
tyrannical measures of Philip II. Before the end of the 
eighteenth century it was involved in wars regarding the 
succession which further weakened and crippled it. 

On the other hand, the Electorate of Brandenburg, 
breaking loose from Poland under Frederick William 

(1 640-1 688), and annexing the duchy of 
Decline of the Prussia and part of Pomerania, took a large 
Empire, " 1 ' stride forward. The successor of Frederick 

William, Frederick I. (1688-1 713), assumed 

255 



256 CHURCH HISTORY. 

the title of king in 1701. Then came Frederick William 

I. (17 13-1740), whose rule was characterized by strict 
discipline, and Frederick II. the Great (1 740-1 786), who 
by his military genius pushed Prussia still further to the 
front. The Dutch Republic entered into a career of 
peaceful prosperity under the guarantees of the Treaty of 
Westphalia. Even the great Louis XIV. was unable to 
prevail against it. But the energies of the Netherlands 
were devoted rather to commerce than to political enter- 
prise, and the republic never played a cardinal part in 
Europe. 

In France, Italy, and England, the changes were more 
of an internal character, not affecting the external prestige 
of these nations directly. Louis XIV., in a 
France. reign of seventy-two years, was enabled to 

concentrate the whole power of the govern- 
ment in the hands of the monarch, so that he could 
rightly say, " I am the State " (Letat c'est mot). The 
danger of this centralization was, however, made manifest 
when his grandson, Louis XV., began to use the power of 
the State for his own corrupt and selfish ends. Thus the 
way was paved for the great upheaval which carried 
Louis XVI., the grandson and successor of Louis XV., to 
the block. 

In England the Commonwealth established by Cromwell 
lasted until 1660. Charles II. (1660-1685), who was en- 
trusted with the throne, for which his father 
S^e Stuart? ^ad been adjudged unfit, developed all the 
vices of the Stuarts. His inclination towards 
Roman Catholicism was but thinly veiled, and when, on 
his deathbed, he actually professed the Roman Catholic 
faith, and left his throne to an avowed Romanist, James 

II. (1685-1688), the end of the Stuart dynasty in Great 
Britain was inevitable. In the Revolution of 1688, James 
was supplanted by William and Mary, who were in turn 
followed by Anne, and later by the House of Hanover. 

In the midst of these changes the Roman Catholic 
Church continued to move in the channel into which it 

had settled with the Council of Trent. Its 
Question! 0111 even tenor was interrupted by the outbreak of 

new discussion over some old questions. The 



THE POLITICAL CHANGES AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 257 

first of these ripples on its surface was the dispute called 
the Gallican Question. Louis XIV., though desirous of 
appearing in the role of a good Catholic, claimed the 
right of exacting from ecclesiastical dignitaries in France 
the vassal's oath, and of controlling vacant bishoprics, 
especially the right of appropriating the revenues of such 
vacant bishoprics. Innocent X. (1644-1655) opposed 
these claims. Under Innocent XI. (1676-1689) the 
Four Articles were drawn up as a solution of the 
difficulty. According to these the pope's right to rule 
kings was denied. It was stipulated that the pope was 
bound by canon law, also that, in France, French law was 
above the word of the pope, and, finally, that even his 
decisions regarding doctrine might be reviewed and cor- 
rected by the whole Church. The matter was com- 
promised at the end by the surrender of the Four 
Articles by Louis, and the retention of the prerogatives 
he originally claimed. 

Another debate within the Roman Catholic fold was 
caused by the revival of strict Augustinianism. The be- 
ginning of the debate dates from the publica- 
jansenism. tion of a work under the title of Concord of 
Grace and Free Will, in 1588, by the Jesuit, 
Luis Molina. The tendency of Molina was semi-Pelagian, 
and he was opposed to the Dominicans. Pope Clement 
VIII. called a small council {Co?igregatio de Auxiliis, 
1597), to examine the question, and reconcile the parties. 
This council failed to accomplish the end for which it 
had come together, and broke up in 1607. About this 
time Cornelius Jansen, a native of Holland, and bishop 
of Ypres, appeared as an opponent of Molina's views. 
He had studied Augustine, and wrote a voluminous work 
entitled Augustinus, advocating a return to the teaching 
of the great father. In this he had the aid and hearty 
support of St. Cyran, who also published a work 
advocating Augustinianism, under the title of Petrus 
Aurelius. The Jesuits now came out in defense of the 
views of their associate, Molina. The controversy waxed 
fierce. The original disputants disappeared from the 
scene. Molina had died in 1601 ; Jansen in 1638 ; St. 
^7 



258 CHURCH HISTORY. 

Cyran in 1643 > but the controversy was carried on by a 
new band of men on the Jansenist side — the Port 
Royalists. 

Port Royal was an ancient convent which, owing to the 
revival of life introduced by Angelique Arnauld, was over- 
crowded and abandoned for a more spacious 
Port Royal. home for its inmates in one of the suburbs of 
Paris. The convent was then occupied by 
a band of gentlemen, at whose head stood Angelique 
Arnauld's youngest brother, Anthony. They were men 
devoted to letters, philosophy, and religion. Some of 
them won places for themselves in French literature. 
Such are Pascal, Racine, Boileau, Lafontaine and others. 
These men took up the defense of Jansen's views against 
the attacks of the Jesuits. As the debate progressed the 
Port Royalists were accused of holding seven heretical 
positions contained in Jansen's Augustinus. These were 
afterwards reduced to five as follows : (1) Men are com- 
manded by God to do certain things which they cannot 
do. (2) Divine grace is irresistible. (3) To render an 
action meritorious, it is not necessary that it should be 
free from necessity, but simply that it should be free from 
coercion. (4) The semi-Pelagians erred in ascribing 
to the human will the power to cooperate. (5) Re- 
demption (atonement) is not universal. These errors 
were condemned by Innocent X. in 1653. The Jansenists 
denied that they were to be found in the Augustinus in 
the sense condemned by the pope. The pope responded 
that he condemned them, " as of Jansen and in the sense 
of Jansen. " They claimed that this was a question of 
fact, and that papal infallibility could not certainly extend 
to facts. Arnauld continued to maintain the condemned 
views, and was censured by the Sorbonne and deprived 
of his doctorate. 

Arnauld was not, however, to lead Jansenism into 

popular favor. His style was too abstruse and technical. 

The task of popularizing the movement fell to 

Pascal and the Pascal. His course was indirect. Instead 

Provincial - . . . . s 

Letters. of expounding Jansenism, or defending it 

against the attacks made on it, he issued a 



THE POLITICAL CHANGES AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 



259 



number of Provincial Letters, in which he administered 
in a realistic and vivid manner a most stinging and 
thorough castigation to the Jesuits. The Jesuits were 
now roused to the pitch of fury. They procured a new 
condemnation of Jansenism from Pope Alexander VII., in 
1656. This the French Church adopted, and constructed 
a formulary based on it. Opposition to these measures, 
or even refusal to accept the formulary, including the 
condemnation of Jansenism, was punished by imprison- 
ment. Port Royal was taken from the Jansenists, and 
many of these fled the country. 

But the controversy was not destined even thus to be 
permanently settled. Clement IX. offered a pacification 
by the terms of which Jansenism was given a 
Quesnei's Moral certain standing, and continued to be held for 
Reflections. SO me time longer. When, however, Pascha- 
sius Quesnel published his Moral Reflec- 
tio?is, opposition against the system broke out with 
new vigor. The pope issued the bull In Vineani Domini, 
ignoring the pacification under which the Jansenists were 
living. Finally QuesnePs book was condemned in 1705, 
and Port Royal was demolished. But to make the over- 
throw complete, the pope issued five years 
Papal Bulls, later the bull, Unigenitus, in which he singled 
out one hundred and one propositions out of 
QuesnePs book and declared them heretical. The Jan- 
senists were persecuted and fled to Holland. They 
appealed from the bull Unigenitus to a general council, 
and continued till the Vatican Council, under the name 
of appellants or old Catholics. 

Another ripple on the surface of Roman Catholicism, 
but of much less serious nature, was Quietism. This was 
a form of Mysticism propounded by Molinos, 
Quietism. a Spanish priest (1627-1696), in a book called 

The Spiritual Guide. In this treatise Molinos 
attempted to give instruction as to the source of peace 
and true spiritual life. He held that these blessings are 
to be found only incomplete renunciation into the hands 
of God. The principle seemed to render superfluous the 
rites, ceremonies and institutions of the Church, and 



260 CHURCH HISTORY. 

roused the opposition of the Jesuits. The views of 
Molinos were condemned, and he was himself thrown into 
prison, where he died. 

Mysticism, however, appeared in another quarter and 
threatened a more serious struggle in the Church of 

France. Madame Guyon (1648-17 17) was a 
^d d F?nebn y ° n l adv of g reat refinement and piety, who was 

married by her parents, for worldly reasons 
and against her own will. Giving herself to religious 
meditation, she came to frame a form of thought essen- 
tially identical with that of Molinos. Fenelon, the great 
French writer, examined her system, and not only found 
nothing objectionable in it, but was so much attracted by 
it that he adopted it. The eloquent Bossuet, bishop of 
Meaux, also examined it, but came to the conclusion that 
it was heretical. Thus the debate was transferred into 
high ecclesiastical circles. Bossuet was undoubtedly a 
pure-minded and able ecclesiastic, and entertained broad 
and liberal views on the rights of the papacy with reference 
to the Gallican question. But he was moved by con- 
sistency to take the attitude of intolerance towards 
Fenelon and Madame Guyon. The question was re- 
ferred to the pope, Innocent XII., who in 1669 pro- 
nounced against Mysticism, and Fenelon retracted his 
acceptance of it. 

A vaguer form of Mysticism also made its appearance 
and escaped condemnation. This was the Mysticism of 

Francis de Sales (1567-1622), nominally 
Saie^ andsde bishop of Geneva, and author of Philothea 

(" The Friend of God"). His work became 
the favorite with devout Catholics, and he was himself 
canonized. 

The Jesuits continued through the seventeenth and 

eighteenth centuries to carry on their work of bringing 

. everything into subjection to the will of the 

The Jesuits on p pe. In Europe their power increased day 

Field. by day, and became a standing menace to the 

stability and independence of the govern- 
ments within whose jurisdiction they carried on their 
work. Abroad their policy of accommodating Chris- 



THE POLITICAL CHANGES AND THE CATHOLIC CHURCH. 2 6i 

tianity to the heathen notions of the peoples of their 
missions became offensive. Complaints were preferred 
to the pope against them. The pope sent Tournon (1668- 
17 10), a legate, to investigate and correct the evil of ac- 
commodation. Tournon was seized by the native autho- 
rities with whom the Jesuit missionaries had gained great 
influence, and cast into prison, where he died. Commu- 
nication between the pope and the mission field was thus 
broken except through the missionaries. It was only after 
the lapse of forty years that the system of accommodation 
was stopped. But with its cessation came a decline in 
the missionary work and dissatisfaction with the mis- 
sionaries. 

From another source Jesuitism received a check of a 
different nature. This was the popular disfavor created 

by the exposure of its methods and principles 
^ n H°o P me arity in the conflict with Jansenism. Not only did 

the Provi?icial Letters show in a vivid manner 
its morally unsound principles, but the actual course of 
the Jesuits in the crusade against Port Royal, the excesses 
to which they resorted, and the needless oppression of 
innocent and unoffending men brought about a reaction 
against them. 

Under these circumstances Jesuitism, was called upon 
to struggle for its own life. The members of the order 

began to be excluded from European countries 
the P Or e der° n ° whose adherence to the papal system never 

had been and could not be questioned. 
Portugal first expelled them in 1759 ; Spain and Sicily in 
1766, France in 1764. The conflict grew desperate. 
Papal elections began to hinge on the question of the 
treatment of Jesuits. Finally Clement XIV. (1769-1774), 
who was elected as the leader of the anti-Jesuit party, 
formally suppressed the order in 1773. He died the next 
year under suspicious circumstances. Meanwhile the 
Jesuits took refuge in Protestant countries and continued 
to exist and work until their restoration in the following 
period. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

LUTHERAN ORTHODOXY AND DISSENT. 

Lutheranism flourished in Northern Germany and the 
Scandinavian countries. In other places it never became 

more than an occasional and exotic system. 
German ni and in The Tnirtv Years' War put the Lutheran 
Scandinavia. system on a sound and firm foundation ; but 

this, instead of proving a pure blessing, turned 
out to be the source of many evils. With the sense of 
safety from attack came a looseness in moral and spirit- 
ual life very detrimental to the welfare of the Church. 
And side by side with moral and spiritual laxity sprang 
up and grew a finished and formal theology. 

The first break with cold orthodoxy in the Lutheran 
Church was made by the Pietists. Philip Jacob Spener 

( I ^33~ I 7°S) was a zealous and devoted pastor 
Pietism. Spener. at Frankfort-on-the-Main. Impressed with 

the need of more spiritual life, he organized 
in 1670, a system of meetings, for persons of the same 
mind with himself, for the purpose of studying the Scrip- 
tures. Removing to Dresden a little later, and still later 
to Berlin, he carried the germ of similar associations for 
spiritual culture into these places. The Wittenberg the- 
ologians looked upon this movement with apprehension, 
and as it grew they openly opposed it. Thus the Pietistic 
controversy arose. 

One of the foremost among the Pietists was August Her- 
mann Francke (1663-1727). With other learned men he 

undertook to lecture on the New Testament, 
Francke. but being obliged by the theologians of 

Leipzig to leave that city he was called by his 
associates in Pietism to the newly established university 
of Halle, which was to be the fountain-head of a new in- 
262 



LUTHERAN ORTHODOXY AND DISSENT. 263 

fluence. The Pietists also founded the orphan asylum 
at Halle, and in other ways spread among the people a 
purer and more Biblical conception of the Christian 
religion. 

The influence of Pietism was perpetuated and spread 
through the remarkable personality of Count Louis Zin- 
zendorf (1700-1760), who was educated at the 
zinzendorf. Halle Orphan Asylum. Being a man of 
means and having heard of the sufferings of 
the Moravian Brethren (Hussites), in Bohemia, Zinzen- 
dorf offered them a refuge in his own estates in Upper 
Lusatia. Here they founded the village of Herrnhut 
(1722). Here also Zinzendorf after joining them was 
appointed their bishop. But he was not left to administer 
the affairs of his colony of Moravians unmolested. The 
Saxon government stepped in and sentenced him to ban- 
ishment. This led to extended w r anderings on the part 
of Zinzendorf w T hich, however, he used as the occasion of 
missionary work. Thus there arose a number of com- 
munities in the wake of Zinzendorfs travels in Holland, 
England, and America. In the last-named land Bethle- 
hem, Nazareth, and Litiz, in Pennsylvania, and Salem in 
North Carolina became flourishing colonies of Moravian 
Brethren. 

Meanwhile the British government recognized the 
Moravian Brethren as a Protestant Church in 1749, and 
the Saxon government did the same as soon 
BrethreT^ 11 as the Moravians accepted the Augsburg 
Confession. The way for Zinzendorfs return 
to Germany was thus opened. He resumed his place of 
bishop at Herrnhut and labored there until his death. 
His spiritual life found expression in many ways, the 
most permanent of which was hymn-writing. He composed 
a large number of classical hymns, some of them used to 
this day. The missionary churches he planted were 
carried on by the Moravians after his death. 

The Moravian theology was threatened at one time 
with a number of coarse and extravagant features, the 
whole drift of which was the literal interpreta- 
meoklgy. tion of tne % ures °f tne fatherhood and son- 
ship in which the relations of the Trinity are 



264 CHURCH HISTORY. 

expressed in the Bible, and the marriage relation as typical 
of the union of Christ and the Church. The Moravians 
also separated between the human and divine elements 
in the nature of Jesus Christ in order to exalt the divine 
and depreciate the human. The system was, however, 
purged of these features, and continued to act as a leaven 
of spiritual and practical Christianity through the eight- 
eenth century. 

Another departure from Lutheran orthodoxy of a much 
more radical character was that led by Emmanuel Swe- 
denborg (1688-1772). Swedenborg was a 
Swedenborg. Swedish gentleman of great learning who held 
a place under the civil government in the 
College of Mines, and was thus led to studies in natural 
science. But turning his attention to religious subjects, 
he gave up all secular employments and removed to 
London, where he elaborated his peculiar system and 
wrote his works. At the age of fifty-five he claimed that 
he had acquired the power of spiritual insight, whereby he 
saw spiritual realities, understood the language of angels, 
and even beheld the Lord. The information that came 
to him through this channel he wrote down in numerous 
books, especially the Arcana Ccelestia. 

The system of Swedenborg is based on the principle 

that the spiritual world is identical with the material. 

The universe is one whole existing in 

fsm edenborgian " two na l yes > of which the outward and 
visible is a counterpart of the inward and 
spiritual. God is infinite and his essence is love and 
wisdom ; but he exists in human, though not material 
form. God manifests himself sometimes as the Father, 
sometimes as the Son, and sometimes as the Holy Spirit. 
Jesus was a mere man bodily in whom God the Father 
had taken his abode temporarily. There is no original 
sin, hence no justification by faith is possible, and no 
vicarious sacrificial atonement necessary. Resurrection 
is spiritual, not of the body. The Bible (excluding, how- 
ever, some of the books of the Old Testament and some 
of the epistles) must be accepted as containing a revela- 



LUTHERAN ORTHODOXY AND DISSENT. 265 

tion, but must be interpreted in a threefold sense : the 
literal, the spiritual, and the celestial. 

The organization of the Swedenborgian Church was 
based on the claim that the last judgment took place in 

1757 and the "New Jerusalem" of the 
The New jeru- Apocalypse descended at that time from the 

heavens. This New Jerusalem is the church 
of believers in the system of Swedenborg. The system 
found adherents partly because of its reactionary ten- 
dency against rationalism, and partly because of the con- 
cessions to rationalism in some particulars. 

Of purely theological controversies, the earliest was 
that in which the theologians of Giessen on one side and 
Kenotic- those of Tubingen on the other engaged re- 

CryptkCon- garding the nature of Christ's humiliation. 

The theologians of Giessen held that in the 
humiliation the eternal Logos had laid aside all divine 
powers and attributes. This was called the doctrine of 
the Kenosis. The Tubingen men on the other side taught 
that the humiliation consists not in the laying aside, but 
in the concealing of the divine attributes, and in using 
them according to the direction of the Holy Spirit. This 
view is called the Cryptic. Jesus Christ according to them 
was possessed of the divine powers even as man {secundum 
camem). The controversy was never settled officially. 

Another controversy of a more practical nature arose 
out of the efforts of George Calixt or Calixtus (1586-1656) 
to bring about a reunion of all Christians in one great 
Church. Calixtus proposed to ignore differences and 
combine the various Christian churches on a broad basis. 
This was called Syncretism, and was opposed by the Wit- 
tenberg theologians, especially Calovius (1612-1686). 
Calovius charged Calixtus and the Syncretists with the 
error of considering the Apostles' Creed a sufficient ex- 
pression of the Christian faith. He further accused them 

of holding that the Roman Catholics and the 
Caiixtine Con- Reformed had enough fundamental truth in 

troversv. . ■§ % • r % 

Syncretism. their systems to secure the salvation of the 

souls of those who accepted them. Still 

further he found fault with them for teaching that the 



266 CHURCH HISTORY. 

doctrine of the Trinity was first revealed in the New 
Testament, and that sin is a negative thing and not a sep- 
arate entity. This debate also, like the Kenotic contro- 
versy, was carried on without a definite result. Neither 
side received formal approval or condemnation. 



CHAPTER IX. 

THE ANGLICAN AND REFORMED CHURCHES. 

After the establishment of the Commonwealth in 
England, for eleven years the Independents controlled 
Cromwell and Church and State. In spite of the principle of 
the inde- separatism professed by the Independents, 

pendents. Cromwell, their political leader, found himself 

under the necessity of drawing a sharp distinction be- 
tween the religious denomination in the ascendant and 
all others. Roman Catholics were disfranchised. Epis- 
copalians were not allowed to use the Prayer Book. 
Presbyterians and Baptists, though more favored, were 
kept in check in other ways. A board of Triers ex- 
amined and passed on candidates for the ministry. And 
this board was kept closely under the control of the In- 
dependents. The ministry was supported by tithes, and 
religion as understood by the governing body was sus- 
tained and advanced by the State. 

When the Commonwealth gave place to the royalty 
under Charles II. the Episcopalians once more took up 
the work of coercing the whole realm to their 
Charles ii. views and practices. In 1662 the Act of 
Conformity was passed, requiring every minis- 
ter to recognize the supremacy of the king in the Church, 
and declare against transubstantiation. Two thousand 
ministers refused to do the first of these and were ejected 
from their livings. As the ejected ministers undertook to 
hold meetings in other places than the churches, a Con- 
venticle Act was passed two years later, forbidding all 
meetings for worship except at the recognized churches. 
The following year the lines were made faster by the 
passing of the Five-mile Act forbidding any non-conform- 

267 



268 CHURCH HISTORY. 

ing minister from residing within five miles of any corpo- 
rate town, or from teaching school. 

Scotland also was called upon again to struggle for its 
Presbyterian government. The laws enacted for Eng- 
land were of course to be enforced also in 
Scotland. Scotland. While there was no open outbreak 

Cameronians. . . . r , . 

against these laws, there was, on the other 
hand, no disposition on the part of the Scotch to relax in 
their adherence to presbytery, or give up the Covenant 
under which their fathers had lived and fought. The 
consequence was a series of bloody persecutions. For a 
time the Covenanters were driven to the remote and 
desert places, and even here they were tracked by armed 
cavalry under John Graham of Claverhouse (1650-1689), 
shot down or cut down, and their possessions plundered 
and destroyed. But all these barbarities, instead of extin- 
guishing the flame of Presbyterianism, only fanned it to 
greater brightness. Richard Cameron and the Cameron- 
ians openly defied the government and propounded the 
doctrine that a Christian should not acknowledge alle- 
giance to a government unless Christ was recognized as 
its head. 

James II. was an avowed Catholic. He reinstituted 
the Court of High Commission, made the infamous Lord 
Jeffrey presiding judge, and brought Richard 
James 11. Baxter to trial. Baxter, after being shame- 

fully abused by the judge, was convicted ; and 
the king, encouraged by seeming success in this case, went 
on to Romanize the Church by issuing indulgences, with 
the ultimate end in view of reinstating Roman Catholics 
in office. But in this he overstepped the limits of the 
people's patience. The bishops refused to publish the 
indulgences, and the attempt to punish them for this re- 
fusal brought about the overthrow of the Stuart dynasty 
and the revolution of 1688. 

William III. was a Presbyterian, but did not, like his 

predecessors, attempt to foist his personal creed on the 

nation. He exempted non-conformists from 

Mary am an all unfavorable legislation, but required the 

approval of the Thirty-nine Articles, the oath 



THE ANGLICAN AND REFORMED CHURCHES. 269 

of supremacy, and repudiation of transubstantiation. 
Queen Anne favored Episcopalianism and established the 
Bounty Fund, which bears her name, out of the reve- 
nues sequestered by Henry VIII. from the pope. This 
fund was used to build parsonages and to supplement the 
income of the poorer parishes. 

It was during Anne's reign that the peace of the Church 
was disturbed by the Sacheverell case. Dr. Sacheverell 

charged the Whig ministry with partiality to 
Queen Anne, the non-conformists. They resented the 

charge and treated him with some severity. 
The sympathies of the queen and people were enlisted 
on his side, and at the Parliamentary elections the Whig 
party were put out of office and a Tory ministry took 
their place. The Tory Parliament also enacted some 
legislation drawing the lines more rigidly against non- 
conformists. 

With the accession of the Georges, the English Church 
fell into a state of inactivity. Convocation was dissolved 

for censuring an Erastian sermon preached by 
Donum. Hoadly, bishop of Bangor, on the " Nature of 

the Kingdom of Christ," and did not meet 
again till 1834. The administration of the affairs of the 
Church passed exclusively into the hands of the civil gov- 
ernment. The suppression of all opposition to the exist- 
ing order of things, whether on the part of non-jurors 
(those who would not take the oath to maintain the 
supremacy of the crown in the Church) or Roman Catho- 
lics was attempted. The latter especially became the 
subjects of oppressive measures. Walpole, in 1722, 
raised the sum of ^"100,000 by a tax on the estates of 
Roman Catholics and non-jurors. He also established 
the Regium Donum as a bonus to dissenting ministers. 

The Reformed Church on the Continent was legalized 
in Germany by the terms of the Treaty of Westphalia, but 

in the very country of Richelieu, who was, 
Churchh! above all others, instrumental in securing the 

France. treaty, the privileges of the Reformed were 

made the object of a steady series of onslaughts. 
First, by peaceful efforts made to induce the Protestants 



270 CHURCH HISTORY. 

to give up voluntarily the edict of Nantes. This edict 
stood in the way of the policy of centralization inaugu- 
rated by Louis XIV. When it was found that the Re- 
formed Church would not surrender its Charter volun- 
tarily, the king simply revoked the edict of Nantes (1685), 
and at one stroke outlawed a large section of his king- 
dom. The Reformed was once more a persecuted church. 
Under the name of the Church in the Desert it continued, 
in spite of the laws against it, for over one hundred years. 
In 1787 Louis XVI. restored legal recognition to it, but 
the Revolution was too near its outbreak at that date 
to allow the Protestants to make immediate use of their 
restored privileges. 

In Switzerland the drift of thought was against the 
strictest forms of theological definition which had pre- 
vailed in the preceding ages. Francis Tur- 
Turretin^ r an ' retin had put Calvinism in his Institutio The- 
ologies Elencticce into very precise terms. His 
son, Jean Alphonse (*' the Younger Turretin "), quietly 
but effectually modified his father's system. He also 
entered into the less successful movement of bringing 
about a union of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches in 
Germany and Switzerland. In this he was supported and 
encouraged by the king, Frederick I. of Prussia. But 
the theological difficulties in the way proved insurmount- 
able. 

In the Netherlands a controversy arose on the question 
of Sabbath observance, involving naturally other moral 
and religious practices. William Teellinck 
bnd s Nether " ( z ^ 2 9) was tne originator of a pietistic move- 
ment which was carried on by Voetius. The 
pietistic views were systematized and even presented in 
academic lectures at Utrecht by Voetius, under the title of 
Ascetical Theology. Cocceius advocated the abolition 
of the law of the Old Testament, and opposed Voetius. 
Both the Cocceians and the Voetians took extreme ground 
during the course of the controversy, the first verging on 
antinomianism and the latter bordering on the Roman 
Catholic doctrine of meritorious works. 

Cocceius also formulated a system of theology which 
has been known sometimes after him as the Cocceian 



THE ANGLICAN AND REFORMED CHURCHES. 



271 



system, and sometimes after its fundamental 
Cocceiansand principle, the Federal or Covenant Theology. 
Federal 8 ' ^ ne idea °^ religion as a covenant between 

Theology. God and man was suggested by Bullinger. 
Cocceius took the suggestion and, searching 
the Scriptures, discovered three covenants in them, around 
which all of God's work might be grouped as about 
centers. The first was the Covenant of Redemption be- 
tween the Father and Son ; the second the Covenant of 
Works between Adam, as the representative of the human 
race, and God ; and the third the Covenant of Grace. 
This last was to be found in successive historic forms as 
(1) the pre-Mosaic Covenant, (2) the Mosaic law, and (3) 
the Gospel Dispensation, which again was unfolded in 
seven periods according to the cycles of seven in the 
book of Revelation. While the system, in its detailed 
form, runs into arbitrary and unhistorical interpretations 
of the Scriptures, to Cocceius must be conceded the credit 
of having at least, with partial success, transferred the- 
ology from the scholastic basis to the scriptural data. 

After the Synod of Dort Arminianism was allowed to 
exist in the Reformed Church only by sufferance. At- 
tempts were not lacking, however, to find a 
Theoio ldian middle ground on which Arminianism and 
Calvinism might fraternize. Such an attempt 
was the Amyraldian or Placean theology taught in the 
school of Saumur, in France. Placeus (LaPlace 1605- 
1655) denied the direct and immediate imputation of 
Adam's sin to his posterity, and asserted that each individ- 
ual appropriates this sin for himself in the first voluntary or 
responsible act. Amyrault (also of Saumur, 1 596-1 664) 
proposed, in addition to the view of Placeus, the doctrine 
of Hypothetical Universalism, or that God predestinates all 
men to salvation on condition of faith. He gives to all 
men grace to cooperate with his Spirit ; but this grace is 
resistible. All men would reject his offer and be lost. He, 
therefore, by an absolute decree, elects some, predestines 
them to salvation unconditionally, and endows them with 
irresistible grace. These views were rejected in the 
Formula Consensus Helvetica in 1675. 



CHAPTER X. 

PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY. 

In order to understand with some degree of fullness 
the theological movements that have not thus far been 

spoken of, it is necessary to obtain at least a 
Bacon. general view of the cycle of philosophy which 

begins with Bacon and ends in Kant. Francis 
Bacon of Verulam gave a new turn to the course of 
thought by criticising the scholastics for their neglect of 
natural science and introducing the inductive principle 
into logical method. The father of modern philos- 
ophy, however, is DesCartes (1596-1650), who set aside 
all previous systems, no matter how hoary, seductive, and 
infixed in the minds of men they might have seemed to 
be, and began with an attempt to find the surest element 
of knowledge as a new beginning. This he reached in 
the proposition "I think, therefore I am" {Cogiio, ergo 
sum). From this as a beginning he then proceeded to 
the knowledge of the world and of God. 

But whereas DesCartes reached positive conclusions 
consistent with Christian faith and even auxiliary to it, 

starting from the point of absolute doubt, 
pes Cartes. others landed elsewhere on following the same 

bpmoza. *■ 

Locke. Leib- course. Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677), a 
mtz * renegade Jew who lived in Amsterdam, built 

on a few fundamental premises which he assumed as 
axioms, a most consistent and thoroughgoing system of 
pantheism. John Locke (1632-1704) propounded the 
view that the mind is a blank on which knowledge comes 
through the senses, a doctrine that was destined to exert 
272 



PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY. 273 

a far-reaching influence. Locke's philosophy was not, how- 
ever, allowed to pass unchallenged. It found a severe 
critic in Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz (1646-17 16), who 
aimed in his own system to combine the best points in 
the philosophies of DesCartes and Spinoza, 
i^Phnofophy 1 ^ avoiding what he deemed their errors. He 
Locke, Leibnitz propounded the theory of "monads," work- 
ing together by a law of " preestablished har- 
mony," which God has ordained with the creation. He 
also touched on the problem of evil and put forth the 
view that the world is the best possible.* Leibnitz's 
philosophy was reduced into a system of rationalism when 
rigidly applied to religion by Christian Wolf (1 679-1 754). 
From another side the sensationalism of Locke pro- 
voked Bishop Berkeley (1 684-1 753) to resort to an ex- 
planation of the w r orld, which has been called 
Berkeley. idealism. According to this view matter has 

no real external existence. It is only a 
creation of the mind. The apparently objective phe- 
nomena of matter are produced in the consciousness ac- 
cording to a settled order fixed by the divine mind. 
This philosophical cycle, which began with the new start 
of DesCartes, was closed by Immanuel Kant 
Kant. (1724-1804). Kant's philosophical work is 

twofold. It has a critical and destructive 
side and a positive or constructive side. In the critical 
part of his philosophy Kant attempts to drive back 
thought from the dogmatism where Wolf had led it. He 
strives to show that by the use of the pure reason man 
cannot reach certainty on the simplest and most funda- 
mental questions. The ideas of God, of substance, of 
freedom, of immortality, are necessary, he argued, for 
the purpose of thought. They keep together, when 
assumed, the complex subjective world. But they can- 
not be used as a basis of reasoning without leading to 
contradictions. In the constructive side of his work Kant 
rebuilt the structure he had demolished in the critical. 
Starting from the sense of duty (the " categorical im- 
perative " which issues in the " Thou oughtest " of the 

* Optimism* 
18 



274 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



conscience) he argued the freedom of man, the immor- 
tality of the soul, and the existence of God. Kant was 
not an evangelical thinker, but his influence on Christian 
theology has been, both directly and indirectly, very 
great. 

Side by side with the philosophical movement and pro- 
duced by the same causes, perhaps, a philosophy of re- 
ligion made its appearance with a purely 
Deism. naturalistic basis. Its ultimate standard and 

Herbert of . . r , . , 

Cherbury. source was the human reason, a feature which 
gave it the name Rationalism. In England, 
where it first came into vogue, this rationalism took the 
form of deism. Edward Herbert, Lord of Cherbury 
(1581-1648), the first of the deists, sought to reduce all 
religion to five simple and primary beliefs reached directly 
by reflection. These are (1) the existence of God, (2) the 
the duty of reverencing him, (3) the obligation to live an 
upright life, (4) atonement for sin by genuine repentance, 
and (5) rewards and punishments in a life after death. 
All else is, according to him, superstition. 

Thomas Hobbes (1 588-1 679) wrote the Leviathan 
(by this term he designates the State), taking the ground 
that the necessity for morality and religion is 
Hobbes. to be found in the constitution of society. 

Each individual is governed by self-love. 
When the interests of one clash with those of others there 
arises the need of a power over all to preserve peace. 
This power is vested in the State. In order to perform 
its functions the State must have unlimited authority. 
The ground of all right is therefore expediency. Religion 
is a result of social organization and must be controlled 
by the State. 

Charles Blount (1 654-1693) attempted to institute a 
comparison between Christianity and ancient pagan phi- 
losophy, with the intention of exalting the latter 
Charles Blount, above Christianity. John Toland (1669-1772), 

John Toland. . ... 7 '•"' .. . , v j u 

Anthony Coiiins.starting with the principle announced by 

Locke in behalf of revealed religion, " that 

there is nothing in Christianity contrary to reason," 

attempted to prove that there is nothing in it above rea- 



PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY. 



275 



son, and that therefore the mysteries now found in it are 
derived from the Jewish system, or from pagan phi- 
losophy. Anthony Collins (1676-1729) made a plea for 
free thought as a necessary condition for a wise choice 
of the true religion, and was effectually answered by the 
great scholar, Richard Bentley (1662-1742), 
BoHnTroke un der the assumed name of Phileleutherus 
Lipsiensis. Bentley claimed that freedom of 
thought must include freedom from the presuppositions 
of the skeptics. LordBolingbroke (1678-175 1), held that 
natural religion is the original truth about which tradition 
and priestcraft and statecraft have gathered superstitious 
growth that must be set aside. Similar positions were 
held by other deists, such as Matthew Tindal (1657— 
1733), Thomas Morgan (1743), and Thomas Woolston 
(1669-1733). 

A shade different was the mode of reasoning adopted 
by David Hume (1711-1776), who elaborated the sen- 
sationalism of Locke into a philosophical 
Hume. skepticism. In his Essay on Miracles, Hume 

takes the ground that miracles cannot be 
proved. Belief is founded on experience ; since we 
have no experience of miracles, but have the experience 
of the untrustworthiness of testimony, no testimony can 
establish the truth of miracles. 

English deism passed over into Europe and spread 
in France and Germany. In France, views similar to 
those of the English deists had been enter- 
French Deists, tained as early as Rabelais and Montaigne, 
but the suppression of Protestantism checked 
all freedom of expression until the appearance of Voltaire 
(1694-1778). Voltaire was a versatile genius and a bril- 
liant literary man, much admired and feared by 
Voltaire. his contemporaries. He was lacking in finer 

The S En a cycio- spiritual insight and failed to appreciate the 
pedists. greatness of the works of Shakespeare, and 

the still more refined spiritual life of the re- 
ligion of the Bible. His only article of faith, so far as 
known, was belief in God. His influence on the France 
of his generation was, however, vast and pernicious. 



276 CHURCH HISTORY. 

Rousseau (1713-1778) was more original than Voltaire, 
but did not go beyond the English deists. Finally, 
in the Encyclopedists, Diderot, D'Alembert and Baron 
d'Holbach, deism passed into materialism and atheism, 
relegating the ideas of God, of immortality, and of duty, 
into the world of evil superstitions that must be done 
away with. 

In Germany rationalism developed a character of its 
own. The philosophy of Wolf had paved the way for it. 

It was called the Illumination {Aufklaring) 
German Ration- because it seemed to its advocates to dispel 

the darkness of superstition and usher in a 
period of intellectual and spiritual light. It was different 
from English deism in that it did not remain within the 
narrow circle of a few learned men, but passed into the 
masses. It was moreover adopted by the Church leaders 
and leavened preaching and religious thinking. It was 
made a rule for the interpretation of Scripture, and finally 
for judging of the validity and value of the teachings of 
the Scriptures. In this form it secured a permanent hold 
in German theology, and persisted as a constant factor 
when in England and France deism had disappeared as 
one of the passing fashions. 

The period of the Illumination in Germany coincides 
with the reign of Frederick II. (1740-1786). Frederick 

was a deist and gathered in his court the 
Frederick 11. leading free-thinker s of France. Beginning 

Defeneration 

of the Pulpit, with a plea for freedom of worship for all re- 
ligions he ended by harassing the evangeli- 
cals like Francke. Under his patronage Voltaire, La 
Mettrie and others issued their attacks on the Christian 
religion. The publishing house of Nicolai became the 
fountainhead of skeptical literature, and the stream seemed 
to break up and diffuse itself into the whole community. 
The pulpit degenerated into a platform for lectures on 
philanthropy, on health, agriculture, gardening, and every- 
thing except the gospel, which on the other hand was the 
butt of open attacks. The ritual part of the church ser- 
vice was also altered to conform to the change. 

The poet Lessing appeared as one of the partisans of 



PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY. 



277 



the movement. Certain literary remains of Herman 
Samuel Reimarus having been put into his 
Lessing. hands by the family of the deceased, he edited 

them under the title of The Wolfenblittel 
Fragments. They contained a plea for the toleration of 
deists, an argument against the supernatural, and an 
attack on the credibility of the Gospels. Naturally they 
created a sensation. Lessing himself held that charity 
and toleration should be preferred to orthodoxy, and that 
the pursuit of truth is better than its possession. The 
last point served as the ground of the teaching that all 
the historical religions are anticipations of the truth which 
comes in its entirety to the reason little by little as a result 
of a process. 

As a consequence of the discussions both in philosophy 

and in reference to the political relations of the various 

forms of Christianity current in England about 

Unitarianism in the middle of the seventeenth century, there 

England. . r . . . J 7 , . 

Samuel Clark, was a revival or humanitarian views regarding 
Lardner 61 tne P erson °£ Jesus Christ. This tendency 
whiston. gradually took more definite form and eventu- 

Priestley. ally resolved itself into Unitarianism. Samuel 

Clark (1675-1729) was one of the first to 
teach in his Scripture Doctrine of the Trinity a subtle form 
of Arianism, so succinct that though accused before Con- 
vocation, he could not be proved guilty of the heresy and 
was allowed to continue in the established Church. 
Nathaniel Lardner (1684-1768), an eminent Presbyterian 
and strong defender of the historical character of the mira- 
cles of the Gospels, also acknowledged himself a believer 
in the Unitarian view. William Whiston, in his Primitive 
Christianity Revived, attempted to prove that the ante- 
Nicene theology was Unitarian. Theophilus Lindsay 
(1723-1808) was proved an Arian and withdrew from the 
Anglican fold and founded a Unitarian church in Lon- 
don. Finally more clearly than all others, Joseph Priest- 
ley, an eminent scientist (1 733-1804), in his History of 
the Corruptions of Christianity and his History of Early 
Opinions about Jesus Christ denied that the Bible teaches 
the doctrine of the Trinity. 



278 CHURCH HISTORY. 

In opposition to these Trinitarianism was defended by 
Bishop George Bull (1634-1710) in a Defence of the 
Nicene Creed, a work for which the Roman 
fenM^M 6 " Catholic Bossuet thanked him in behalf of the 
Wateriand. ' Roman communion. Daniel Waterland (1683- 
1740) also wrote a reply to Samuel Clark's 
Scripture Doctrine. 

As against the attacks on the Christian religion by 
deists, Locke, the philosopher, Bentley, the scholar, and 
William Law, writer of devotional works, 
Butier, y LarcL^ appeared as defenders of the supernatural, 
ner, Paiey. B ut t n e ablest defense of supernatural re- 
ligion was put forth by Bishop Butler (1692-1752) in his 
Analogy of Religion, Natural and Revealed. In this 
great work Butler clearly demonstrates that whatever ob- 
jections hold against belief in the supernatural hold 
with equal force against the truths of natural religion. 
The historical evidences of Christianity were presented 
by Nathaniel Lardner, and by William Paley (1 743-1805) 
in his Evidences of Christianity and Horce Paufaice. 

Besides those who were distinguished in the English 

Church for the defense of the faith, a number of eminent 

theologians gave their attention to quieter 

Scholars and an( j more positive labors. In Biblical study 

Theologians. _ , -p., / s sn \ i i « • 

Robert Leighton (161 2-1684) produced his 
valuable Commentary on the First Epistle of Peter. In 
ecclesiastical history Bishop Burnett (1643-17 15) wrote 
a History of the Reformation ; Humphrey Prideaux, The 
Connections Between the Old and the New Testaments, and 
Bingham, his Antiquities of the Christian Church. In 
theology more strictly, John Pearson (1613-1686) wrote 
an Exposition of the Apostles' Creed, and Bishop Bur- 
net an Exposition of the Thirty- Nine Articles. Isaac 
Barrow (1630-1677) and Robert South (1633-1716) were 
eminent and influential preachers, and Jeremy Taylor 
(1613-1667) wrote devotional works of permanent value. 
Though his Ductor Dubitantium, a treatise on casuistry, 
has lost its interest, his Holy Living and Holy Dying are 
among the most precious religious classics. He has also 
been called " the Shakespeare of preachers." 



PHILOSOPHY AND THEOLOGY. 



279 



The Puritan divines were voluminous writers, and 
wrote in a prolix style. The most prominent among them 
are: Richard Baxter (1615-1691) whose 
Puritan Divines. Sain? s Everlasting Rest and Call to the Uncon- 
verted have been extensively used. Baxter 
was noted for moderation and breadth of view. John Owen 
(1616-1683) adopted the Cocceian theology, and ex- 
pounded it with clearness against the claims of the 
Arminian system. John Howe (1630-1705), the author of 
the Living Temple was one of the most genial of the Puritans. 
John Selden (1 584-1654) was styled by Grotius " the 
glory of the English nation." John Milton (1608-1674) 
embalmed Puritan theology in the greatest epic poems in 
the English language, besides contending stanchly for 
independence against both Episcopalians and Presbyte- 
rians.* Finally, John Bunyan (1 628-1688), the " Tinker 
of Elstow," living during the stormy days of Stuart rule, 
and suffering severe persecution for his views, embodied 
the course of Christian experience in the immortal Pil- 
grim 'i* Progress, and in a number of minor works. 

Midway between Puritans and Anglicans, between 
deists and believers in the supernatural, stood the Lati- 
tudinarians. These were connected largely 
rianfs^! 11 ^ with tn e university of Cambridge, and culti- 
vated the study of Plato, whence they were 
also called the Cambridge Platonists. They appealed to 
the reason without recognising it, as the deists did, as the 
sole guide in religion. They belonged to the Anglican 
Church, but did not insist on the divine right, or absolute 
necessity of episcopacy. They were charged with lax- 
ness in view and their breadth or effort to include varying 
elements earned for them the name of latitudinarian. 

The chief exponent of the latitudinarian system was 

Ralph Cudworth (16 17-1688) who, in a treatise on The 

Intellectual System of the Universe, advocates a 

Tmms^' revival of the Platonic philosophy as against 

atheism and pantheism. John Tillotson 

* Milton was Cromwell's Latin secretary. He was the author of 
the phrase, " Presbyter is only priest writ large." 



2 8o CHURCH HISTORY. 

(1630-1694), archbishop of Canterbury, presented latitu- 
dinarianism in the pulpit, accompanying it with a reform 
in the style of preaching. He aimed to be direct and 
simple, as well as practical and ethical. His theology, 
however, is weak and vague. 

Mention must be made also of the English hymn- 
writers, who towards the end of this period enriched the 
hymnology of the Christian Church at large. 
TiT^wTsk 11 ?' These represent different types of theology, 
waus. e Top S - but agree in expressing the same devotional 
rid|e. D ° dd " feelings. Augustus Toplady (1740-1778) 
was a stanch Calvinist. John and Charles 
Wesley were Arminians. Isaac Watts held peculiar 
views regarding the Trinity, and taught that the soul at 
death falls into a perfect sleep, from which it wakens only 
at the resurrection. Philip Doddridge (1702-1751) held 
to Calvinism, but rather loosely. 



CHAPTER XL 

QUAKERS AND METHODISTS. 

The spiritual life which was one of the marked features 
of the early Reformation age ebbed during the course of 
the post-Reformation period. And this ebb 
s^rituai Life. was characteristic not only of one locality or 
form of faith, but of all. Roman Catholics, 
Lutherans, Anglicans, Puritans in England, Germany and 
Holland were more or less affected by the diminution of 
spiritual earnestness. Morals degenerated, especially in 
high places, and the Church and its institutions were per- 
vaded by the spirit of secularism. Such at least appears 
to be the conditions depicted in the literary productions of 
the age and in some of the art, as, for instance, that of 
Hogarth in England. 

Out of this condition of spiritual torpor efforts were 
made to rouse the Church at different times and in dif- 
ferent places. The most significant of these 
Origin of the were the preaching of the u inner light, ' ' bv 

Fnends. The - „ . f , *> . 1- - i • 1 

inner Light. the friends, and the great evangelical revival 
of the latter half of the eighteenth century. 
The Society of Friends owes its origin to the efforts of 
George Fox (1624-1690). Fox was the son of a Presby- 
terian weaver residing at Drayton. He had received a 
good religious training in his youth, and was employed as 
a shoemaker when the conviction came to him that the 
world with all its pursuits and pleasures was an empty 
show. He became further convinced that God visits 
every man with his renewing and quickening power. 
This work of the Spirit he called The Inner Light. 
He began preaching these views and, though persecuted 

281 



282 CHURCH HISTORY. 

and imprisoned, met with success among the common 
people. 

The followers of Fox increased steadily and rapidly. 
Others imitated his example, going from place to 
place, and inculcating the doctrine of the in- 
Extravagances. ner light. But the tendency of the move- 
ment was at first towards extravagant claims 
and unseemly conduct. One of their number particu- 
larly, James Naylor, went to the extent of enacting in 
public the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in a 
sort of dramatic representation. For this he was seized, 
branded with a " B," as a blasphemer, his tongue was 
pierced with red-hot iron, and he was cast into prison. 

These extravagances were, however, done away with, 
and the followers of George Fox, organized as the Society 
of Friends, disseminated their views in England, Holland 
and America, insisting only on the return to primitive 
simplicity of speech, apparel and manner, on the equality 
of all members, and, therefore, the abolition of a separate 
ministry, and the abandonment of all outward forms and 
ordinances not excepting the sacraments, because they 
claimed none of these ordinances were based on the 
word of God. 

The great Evangelical Revival began with a group of 
young men at Oxford University who were called the 
Oxford Methodists, because they under- 
Meth^dists* to °^ to curt ivate personal piety in a method- 
ical way. They entered into a compact with 
one another to read the Scriptures, engage in meditation, 
read devotional works, such as Jeremy Taylor's Holy Liv- 
ing, Thomas a, Kempis' Imitation of Christ, etc., engage 
in prayer, participate in the Lord's Supper, and to do 
these things with regularity at stated times. The leader 
in this group of young men was John Wesley(i703-i79i), 
the son of an Episcopal rector at Epworth. Charles 
Wesley, his brother, and George Whitelield (17 14-17 70) 
were also prominent members of the group. The organi- 
zation formed by these men was called the Holy Club, 
and was made soon after Wesley 's taking up his resi- 
dence at Oxford as fellow in 1728. 



QUAKERS AND METHODISTS. 283 

A few years later (1735), John and Charles Wesley 

went as missionaries to Georgia. During the course of 

the voyage across the ocean they became 

Wesley and the acquainted with two prominent Moravians — 

Moravians. ~ * 

Spangenberg and Nitzschmann. From them 
they learned the peculiar beliefs of the Moravian Breth- 
ren, especially with reference to the internal testimony of 
. the Holy Spirit. But as the work in Georgia did not 
move to the satisfaction of the missionaries, they returned 
to England after two years, and immediately sought to 
learn more about the Moravian community, and that in 
a more direct way. It was in one of the meetings of the 
Moravian community in London that John Wesley heard 
the exposition of Luther's doctrine of justification by 
faith and was at once enlightened and assured of 
personal salvation. 

In order to deepen his knowledge of truth thus 
acquired, Wesley next made a visit to the headquarters 
of Moravianism, — Herrnhut. But he had 
to iiefrahuT* evidently reached as far as possible in this 
direction, for the visit did not prove as satis- 
factory as anticipated, and he returned to England to take 
up what was now to prove his life-work. He began to 
preach in London in 1738. 

Whitefield's experience was more subjective and inde- 
pendent of external influence. He struggled for some 
time in his own strength, to lead a better life, 
whitefieid. and finally threw himself on the mercy of God, 
thus finding peace of mind and assurance of 
salvation. He then began to preach in the opens field in 
the neighborhood of Bristol. Wesley would not at first 
conduct religious services outside the walls of churches. 
But his growing audiences on the one side, and, on the 
other hand, the difficulty of securing churches from the reg- 
ular clergy, whose prejudices and suspicions were being 
awakened by his style of preaching, compelled him to fol- 
low Whitefieid by holding meetings in the open air. 

The style of preaching of both these evangelists was 
direct and forcible. They represented God's grace as 



284 CHURCH HISTORY. 

sufficient, upon the exercise of faith to save 
Sw Evanfeiists. ^ e smner immediately. They pressed their 
hearers to make an immediate decision. 
Their message came to the multitudes like a new revela- 
tion. They were heard with eagerness and the result of 
their labors was the conversion of many thousands. For 
a time they kept together. But their doctrinal differ- 
ences proved irreconcilable. Whitefield was a believer in 
the Calvinistic system, while Wesley was an Arminian 
and a violent opponent of Calvinism. They were obliged 
to part company and carry on their work separately. 

Wesley found it necessary also to close all negotiations 
for a union with the Moravians, although for a time such 
a union was thought feasible. Tempera- 
Wesley's Work, mental and national differences in this case 
put positive bars to the amalgamation pro- 
posed. Thus about 1740 Wesley began his own work 
and pressed it with an organizing talent whose effec- 
tiveness was soon made manifest. 

Wesley's aim was to reach the whole of the realm and 
even the world (" The world is my field "). To this end 
he organized his followers into a great association. This 
he subdivided into societies. The societies were again 
subdivided into classes under leaders and held meetings 
for the purpose of stimulating one another to spiritual 
life. He divided the country into circuits and assigned 
these to preachers who should visit them and hold 
services in them. The year was also methodically 
divided into parts and some form of religious service was 
appointed to each part. Thus were instituted a series 
of daily devotional services, weekly class-meetings, 
monthly watch nights, quarterly fasts and love feasts, 
and annual consecration and covenant meetings. For 
use in these services Charles Wesley composed hymns 
of genuine liturgical merit. 

It was not the intention of the Wesleys to break off 

from the national Church. They protested to the end 

, that their purpose was not to found a separate 

Society becomes church but a society within it. But the logic 

a church. Q f their conduct led to the rupture. John 



QUAKERS AND METHODISTS. 285 

Wesley came to the conclusion that in the New Testa- 
ment the offices of bishop and presbyter were identical, 
and thus though only a presbyter himself, undertook, 
contrary to the canons of the Church to which he be- 
longed, to ordain presbyters and even a bishop for 
the church in America. This could issue only in the 
separation of the Methodist society and its organization 
into a church, an event which was, however, brought 
to a consummation after the death of John Wesley 
in 1791. 

The revival led by Whitefleld continued as a movement 
within the English Church. Whitefieid enlisted the 

friendship and support of the influential 
waief eldin Countess of Huntingdon, His labors proved 

especially successful in W T ales. Here the 
lady Huntingdon erected a large number of chapels in 
which the Methodists could hold their meetings. She 
also established a seminary for the education of ministers, 
at Trevecca (1768). This institution was put under the 
supervision of John William Fletcher (1729-1785), a man 
of amiable disposition and sterling Christian character. 
But the doctrinal differences between Wesley and White- 
field led to his parting from the latter and joining 
himself to the former. He declared himself an Arminian 
in belief, and lady Huntingdon refused to maintain him 
as the head of the school at Trevecca. 

Whitefleld also engaged in labors in America where his 
preaching attracted vast crowds and won the admiration, 

if not always the assent, of prominent men, 
in America. many of whom were at this period avowed 

deists. On both sides of the ocean his 
eloquence was recognized by such men as Chesterfield, 
Bolingbroke, Hume, and Benjamin Franklin. He was a 
greater orator than Wesley, though far inferior as an 
organizer. The great majority of his converts were ab- 
sorbed by the English Church, forming the nucleus of the 
evangelical or low-church party in it ; a large number, 
however, joined the dissenting evangelical bodies. In 
W r ales the Calvinistic Methodist Church remained a per- 
manent result of his labors. 



286 CHURCH HISTORY. 

The effect of the preaching of both Wesley and 
Whitefield was the rise within the Anglican Church of an 
evangelical party destined to exert a mighty 
Results. influence later. Calvinistic theology also 

received a new statement and defense as 
against the attacks of Wesley and Arminianism at the 
hands of William Romaine (1715-1795). John Newton 
and William Cowper expressed the new devotional spirit 
in hymns. Henry Venn engaged in preaching in asso- 
ciation with Whitefield and the lady Huntingdon ; and 
finally Thomas Scott (1747-182 1) and Adam Clarke 
(1762-1832) wrote commentaries on the Bible. 



CHAPTER XII. 

THE NEW CONDITIONS IN THE NINETEENTH 
CENTURY. 

In order to understand the history of Christianity in 
the contemporaneous era it is necessary to cast at least a 
cursory glance at the new conditions under 
Philosophy and w hich the Christian religion exists. The 
Factors. P ° * political situation in the civilized world is 
totally different from that of any other age 
that the world has witnessed. On the other hand, phi- 
losophy, which in the middle ages was only a part of 
religious thought and learning, and which in the Reforma- 
tion age and the post-Reformation period was allied to 
theology, and worked as an avowed friend and auxiliary, 
assumes an independent attitude with the end of the 
pre-Kantian cycle and develops in a new line, sometimes 
directly atagonistic to Christian thought. It is essential, 
therefore, that the new political condition and the new 
philosophic movement should be clearly understood in 
order to grasp the meaning of the movements within 
Christendom. 

The political situation is the result for the most part, 

if not altogether, of the French Revolution, from which 

event the contemporaneous period dates its 

French Revolu- beginning. The revolution was, no doubt, 

tion Its . . 

Causes. the inevitable result of the abuse of power cen- 

tralized in royalty during two extraordinarily 
long reigns, extending together from 1653 to 1774. The 
classes which during this long period had become accus- 
tomed to the possession of the power felt secure in its pos- 
session, and lost all scruples as to its improper use. They 

287 



288 CHURCH HISTORY. 

indulged in extravagances, and resorted to taxation to 
procure the means of paying for them. A vast debt was 
accumulated, the people were impoverished, monopolies 
of the most offensive kind were established in order to 
extort the money which no other means was sufficient to 
secure, and thus a condition of discontent was created 
which the ruling classes neither would nor could realize 
or allay. 

In the natural antipathy created by this condition of 
things between the ruling class and the masses, the 
Church and clergy were ranged on the side of the 
aristocrats. Their privileges, therefore, became objects 
of attack, like the prerogatives of all the privileged 
classes. On the other hand, the king (Louis XVI.) in 
all his efforts to avoid the revolution was unwilling to 
make any concessions involving the Church and its privi- 
leges. In any other direction he seemed inclined to meet 
the popular demand, but not in curtailing the prerogatives 
of the clergy. Thus the religious question entered into 
the conflict, and the status of Christianity must be 
affected by the result, whatever this might be. 

The revolution broke out in 1789. It began with the 
organization of the Third Estate as the National 

Assembly. This was an act of defiance to 
Outbreak. existing authorities. It proved to be, also, 

the first step in a process of disorganization 
which went on for four years, reaching its culmination in 
the execution of the king and the inauguration of the 
Reign of Terror (1793-1794). The revolutionists reached 
their extreme positions. In Paris a new era was pro- 
claimed. Religion and all its institutions were abolished. 
Atheism was publicly proclaimed to be the truth. The 
goddess of reason was formally enthroned in the 
cathedral of Notre Dame in the person of a dissolute 
woman. Priests and bishops were coerced to abjure 
their faith at the peril of their lives, and to declare them- 
selves atheists. The division of time into weeks was 
displaced by a division into periods of ten days. Every 
other vestige of the former dispensation was wiped 
out. 



NEW CONDITIONS IN THE i$>TH CENTURY. 289 

But this condition of affairs could not, in the nature of 
things, continue very long. The crisis came soon. The 
leaders of the Reign of Terror fell to suspecting one 
another. The people lost all fear of death when blood- 
shed and horror became the rule. The Reign of Terror 
was ended by the triumph of the moderate republican 
party. At this juncture there appeared on the scene the 
genius who was to lead France out of this chaos into a 
brief period of military glory and prestige. This was 
Napoleon Bonaparte. Slowly, and step by step, 
Napoleon gained complete control of the government. 
First the directorate (1 794-1 799), then the consulate 
(1 799-1804), furnished him with the steps whereby he 
climbed to the height of power and was finally crowned 
emperor (1804). 

Even before his accession to the empire, Napoleon had 
shown his disposition to restore the Roman Catholic 
Church in France, as one of several 
Bonaparte. forces tending to preserve order and bring 
about reorganization. The Concordat of 1801 
had reinstated the Church into the possession and 
enjoyment of most of the prerogatives conceded to it 
before the revolution. This was a measure of statecraft, 
and not the result of a personal conviction with Napoleon. 
When, as emperor, he tried to force the " Continental sys- 
tem '' on Europe, whereby he hoped to exclude England 
from all commercial relations with the rest of Europe, 
Pope Pius VII. refused to enter into the plan. Napo- 
leon, therefore, seized the papal estates and annexed them 
to the empire. The pope retaliated with the old weapon 
of excommunication, for which he was seized and 
imprisoned at Savona. But Napoleon was not destined 
to hold Europe under control. When he was finally 
displaced an effort was made to swing Europe back to 
the course from which it had been forced by Napoleon. 
But, though it did return to a more peaceful and 
normal condition, it could not again become what it had 
been. 

The effect of the revolution has been most clearly 
visible in the history of France since the fall of Napoleon. 
x 9 



290 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



The attempt to reestablish the absolutism which pre- 
ceded Louis XVI. was doomed to failure 

ChurchAffairs fl "° m the be g innm g- Louis XVIII. (1815 

in France. -1824) and Charles X. (1824-1830) tried 
to rule by right divine, but in the Rev- 
olution of 1830 the last hope of the success of this 
system vanished. Neither was the attempt to plant a 
popular monarchy made by Louis Philippe to issue in a 
permanent result. Louis Philippe, after eighteen years 
of mild rule (1830-1848), even though enjoying the con- 
fidence and acting upon the advice of able ministers, like 
Guizot, was unable to continue longer. The second 
republic (1848-1852) and second empire under Napoleon 
III. (1852-1870) followed, and in the third republic, since 
1870, the net result of the Revolution of 1789 seems to 
have been realized. 

The rest of Europe, however, has also been altered by 
the influence of the great popular movement in France. 
A few months after the Congress of Vienna, 
Rest n of s in the wn ^ cn undertook to readjust the affairs of 
Europe. Europe after the fall of Napoleon (18 15), the 

Holy Alliance was formed, consisting of 
Prussia, Russia, and Austria. Its aim was to treat all 
parties on the basis of Christian justice and charity. 
This alliance was later enlarged so as to include all the 
states of Europe, except Turkey and the papal states. 
England, however, refused to enter into it, and the result 
proved that the alliance was capable of abuse. The 
three sovereigns who originated the idea were men of a 
religious turn of mind, and believers in the divine right 
of kings ; they interpreted the object of the alliance 
favorably to the promotion of this idea. The alliance 
thus turned out to be a slight reaction from the direction 
towards which the French Revolution had turned 
European politics. Nevertheless, as a reaction it was 
checked by popular uprisings in different places, and the 
trend of affairs has neutralized its tendency towards 
absolutism. 

Nowhere, perhaps, has the progress of popular ideas 
been more marked and steady, and yet peaceful, than in 



NEW CONDITIONS IN THE 19TH CENTURY. 



291 



Great Britain. The Catholic Emancipation law was car- 
ried through in 1829, after severe struggles. 
eSESi.™ The Reform Bill > abolishing " pocket bor- 

oughs " (precincts represented in Parliament, 
but having no population), was passed in 1832. Slavery 
was abolished in the West Indies in 1833. The Poor 
Laws were enacted in 1834. The Municipal Corporation 
Law bestowed the right of self-government upon cities of a 
certain class, in 1835. The Civil Marriage Law in 1836 
was in the direction of leveling religious differences. 
Since the accession of Victoria in 1837, the course of 
progressive legislation for the benefit of the common 
people has been even more rapid. Penny-postage was 
established in 1840. Jews were admitted to Parliament 
in 1858. The electoral system was again reformed in 
1867, enfranchising, more than a million of householders. 
The Irish Church was disestablished in 1869. The same 
year membership in the governing bodies of grammar 
schools was made open to all denominations. The uni- 
versities of Oxford, Cambridge, and Durham were 
opened to all, without the necessity of subscribing to any 
creed. The parochial churchyards were made accessible 
to dissenters in 1880, and finally the headships and 
fellowships of Oxford and Cambridge universities were 
freed from clerical restrictions in 1882. 

But if the political movement has been so radical 
during the nineteenth century, the philosophical move- 
ment has also been very remarkable. With 
untii°Hegei. Kant as a starting-point this movement seeks 
for truth in a new direction. The first to 
build on Kant was Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1762-1814). 
In imitation of Kant he constructed a Critique of all 
Revelation. But his interpretation was questioned by 
Kant's other disciples and disowned by Kant himself. 
Nevertheless he built his system as pure science, taking 
the ground that only the Ego could be known scientif- 
ically. His philosophy is thus of the same type though 
not identical with Berkeley's. J. F. Herbart (1776-1841) 
followed also on the basis of Kant, but with an entirely 
different result. He held that experience must serve as 



292 CHURCH HISTORY. 

the beginning of philosophy ; that doubt must be a nec- 
essary stage, but must issue in the refashioning of the 
data of experience into a system of the universe. On this 
basis he propounded the doctrine of " Reals " as the con- 
stituents of the world. Schelling (1775-1854) probably 
builds on Fichte's doctrine of the Ego when he makes 

this the coming into consciousness of the 
Fichte. World-soul, and then constructs a system 

Schelling. according to which the universe is a living 

being whose spiritual nature manifests itself 
in the phenomena of intellect, and whose material side is 
shown in the physical world. 

The most potent stream of influence going forth from 
philosophy over religious thought is that which was 

exercised by Hegel (1770-183 1). HegePs 
Hegel. i s the most consistent system of idealism. 

The essence of the universe is thought. 
This externalizes itself and evolves in the world of 
nature. Through this world it comes to selfconscious- 
ness in the world of mind. The system was taught and 
embraced by many theologians as the most rational ex- 
planation of Christianity. HegePs followers, however, 
divided into two sections. The section that attempted 
to adhere to a Christian theistic belief was designated 
the Hegelian Right wing, and the section which carried 
out Hegelianism to a strict pantheistic extreme was called 
the Hegelian Left. 

Meanwhile, other forms of philosophizing also found 
favor. Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860) taught that the 

world is the manifestation of blind unintel- 
Schopenhauer. ligent will, and therefore as bad as possible. 
Spencer. Auguste Comte (1 798-1857) claimed that the 

effort to know anything beside mere appear- 
ances is vain. All such ideas of the inner relations of 
things, as well as belief in spiritual realities, he discarded 
in his Positivism as antiquated theology and metaphys- 
ics. But he also tried to satisfy the religious nature by 
establishing the worship of humanity, with a ritual 
patterned after the Roman Catholic. 

Herbert Spencer (1820 ) separates between the 



NEW CONDITIONS IN THE 19TH CENTURY. 293 

knowable and the unknowable, then relegating the latter 
to a department by itself in which investigation is futile, 
he limits himself to building a theory as to the origin and 
inward life of the knowable. This he finds in the doctrine 
of evolution. From its doctrine of the unknowable this 
philosophy has been called Agnosticism, and from its 
view of the origin and growth of the world, Evolutionism. 
But while these systems have been propounded, regard- 
less of the facts of the religious consciousness, and have 

issued in antagonism with Christian thought, 
fo^ophy Phl other systems have also been taught all along 

in harmony with the Christian faith. Such 
is the so-called Scottish philosophy first elaborated by 
Thomas Reid (17 10-1796), and subsequently supported 
and entrenched by Thomas Brown (1778-1820), Dugald 
Stewart (1753-1828), Sir William Hamilton (1788-1856), 
and James McCosh (1811-1894). This system is based 
on the "common sense," that is, the intuitive knowledge 
that all unbiased minds agree in holding. The ideas of 
power, substance, cause, time, space, are innate and cor- 
respond with realities outside of men. The senses are 
trustworthy. The world perceived by them has a reality. 
There are two spheres, that of matter and that of mind. 
Hamilton, however, taught that knowledge is relative, and 
led Mansell (1820-187 1) to deny the philosophic validity 
either of dogmatic theology or of rationalism. 

In Germany, Jacobi (1753-1819) was repelled by the 
destructive elements of Kant's philosophy. Against 

Kant's negations he asserted that God, im- 
jacobi. Lotze. mortality, and freedom are known by a direct 

intuition which he called faith. Herman 
Lotze (18 1 7-188 1) put forth a spiritualistic realism op- 
posed to Hegelian idealism on one side, and materialistic 
realism on the other. The world is, according to him, the 
expression of moral ends, and these ends are the expres- 
sion of the nature of a Supreme Person — God. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

THE ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE NINE- 
TEENTH CENTURY. 

The French Revolution began during the pontificate of 
Pius VI. (1775-1799). The rupture between France, 

under the Revolution, and the papacy, made 
Pius vii. during this pontificate, was healed by the 

Concordat of 1801, agreed to by Napoleon and 
Pius VII. (1800-1823). But these two quarreled and the 
pope was cast into prison, whence he was delivered only 
at the fall of the emperor. On his return to Rome, as if 
making a thank-offering for restoration to the Holy See 
of the estates which had been confiscated by Napoleon, 
Pius issued the bull Solicitudo omnium, by which he reha- 
bilitated the order of the Jesuits, in response, as he claimed, 
to the desire of all the faithful. This measure was fol- 
lowed two years later by the condemnation of Bible 
societies and of translations of the Bible for the use of 
the people. Thus from the outset the policy of the Church 
was bent in the reactionary direction. 

Leo XII. (1823-1829) reasserted his predecessor's 
condemnation of Bible societies. Pius VIII. (1829-1830) 

did not hold the papacy long enough to do 
Gregory xvi. much, but his successor, Gregory XVI. (1830- 

1846), not only continued in the reactionary 
course inaugurated by Pius VII., but went further in the 
effort to revive the ideas of Hildebrand and Innocent III. 
He opposed science and all liberal views, and strove to 
establish the supremacy of the hierarchy, using to this 
end even violence. At his death he left more than two 
thousand persons condemned and lodged in imprisonment 
for opposing his will. 
294 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE 19TH CENTURY. 295 

Pius IX. (1846-1878) began by treating with great 
leniency those whom his predecessor had sentenced to 

punishment. In fact his early years were 
Pius ix. signalized by a policy of tolerance. He 

seemed to have abandoned the repressive 
course of previous pontiffs, and to be aspiring for the 
establishment of a confederacy of Italian states under the 
presidency of the pope. But the disturbances of 1848 
made him aware that such a plan was a pure vision which 
could never be realized. He fell back into the path 
opened by Pius VII., and wielded his authority with in- 
creasing rigor. In 1854 he pronounced ex cathedra in 
favor of the immaculate conception of the Virgin Mary, 
thus closing a question which had been discussed ever 
since the days of Aquinas and Scotus. Ten years later 
he issued an encyclical letter with a syllabus of errors 
appended. This document enumerated among others, as 
errors condemned by the Church, such matters as civil 
marriage, secular education, toleration of heterodox 
beliefs, and freedom of conscience. 

This policy culminated in the calling of the Vatican coun- 
cil, the twentieth ecumenical, in 1870. The real object of 

this council, though denied at the time, was 
Do ti maof° uncil ' tne f° rmu l at ion °f tne doctrine of papal in- 
infainbiiity. fallibility. The council was largely attended, 

but the preponderant influence was that of the 
Italian branch of the Church, closely allied with the pope. 
The business was arranged by the pope's friends in 
accordance with his wishes. Three rubrics {schemata) 
were proposed under the captions respectively of The 
Faith, The Church, and Missions. The first rubric or 
schema entitled The Faith gave an account of and 
denounced prevalent forms of error, such as atheism, 
materialism, etc. This was adopted unanimously. The 
second consisted of three articles. (1) A definition of the 
legal status of the Church with relation to the State. 
(2) The reassertion of the supremacy of the pope over the 
whole Church. (3) A catechism to be used in the in- 
struction of the young. To these was added, ostensibly 
at the request of 400 members of the council, but in reality 



296 CHURCH HISTORY. 

by prearrangement at the desire of the pope, (4) the at 
firmation that the pope is infallible in every utterance on 
a point of faith duly submitted to his judgment. This 
article evoked strong opposition on the part of learned 
and liberal men like Bishop Hefele, Archbishops Dupan- 
loup, of Orleans, and Kenrick, of the United States. But 
it was passed at first by a large majority, and on a second 
vote with but two dissenting voices out of 550. Before 
the council could enter upon other business of importance 
the war between France and Germany broke out and the 
council dissolved. 

While the Catholic clergy, both higher and lower, 
acquiesced in the dogma of the Vatican council, a few 
theologians recorded their protest against it. 
Movemen°t. 1C These held a conference at Nuremberg in the 
summer of 1870, and declared that the Vatican 
council was not truly ecumenical and its dogma, therefore, 
was not binding. The most eminent of these theologians 
was Ignatius Dcellinger, of Munich. Having refused to 
subscribe to the decree of the council, he was excommu- 
nicated. Under his leadership the Catholics who could 
hot accept the new dogma held a second conference in 
Munich, and organized the Old Catholic Church. The 
Old Catholics claimed that they were the true adherents 
of the historic faith, while those who accepted the dogma 
of the Vatican had departed from true Catholicism. They 
recognized the Appellants of Holland (Jansenists), and 
proposed amalgamation with the Greek and some of the 
Protestant churches. At a third conference, held in 
1872, they went further from Romanism in abolishing the 
celibacy of the clergy and in making it optional with the 
priest administering the Lord's Supper whether he shall 
offer the cup to the laity or not. The Old Catholic move- 
ment did not, however, gather much strength, as it lacked 
fervor and popular features to commend it to the masses. 

In France the movement found a representative in Pere 
Hyacinthe, a Carmelite monk (Charles Loyson), who has 
been laboring against great difficulties since 1878 in build- 
ing up a national Gallican Catholic Church independent 
of the pope. 



ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH IN THE 19TH CENTURY. 



297 



When Napoleon III. was dethroned after the defeat of 
France in 1870, the troops maintained by him at Rome 
in support of the pope as a temporal sovereign 
The Pope, Leo were withdrawn, and Victor Emmanuel II. 
Prisoner a? the marched into Rome and took possession, of 
Vatican. the city, making it the capital of the kingdom 

of Italy. From the date of this event to the 
time of his death, Pius IX. assumed the roll of a prisoner 
and refused to leave the Vatican. His successor, Leo 
XIII. (1878- ), took up the papal policy left by Pius, 
though he has intimated to the Italian government that he 
would prefer to live on a peaceful understanding with the 
royal government, but must have some concession of tem- 
poral authority made to him. 

During the last half century two opposite tendencies 

have developed in the Roman Catholic Church. The 

first of these is a tendency towards supersti- 

piverging tion, credulitv, and slavish obedience to the 

tendencies in T7 - . i i i ^ ^^ i 

Romanism. Vatican ; the other a tendency towards radical- 
ism, socialism, and rationalism. The first 
finds expression in easy belief in miraculous phenomena, 
such as those produced by Hohenloe and Sabina Schaefer, 
or at Lourdes and Marpingen ; the second is to be dis- 
cerned in the revolutionary teachings of Martin Boos in 
the diocese of Augsburg, of Theiner at Breslau, and of 
Lamennais at Paris. 

The disposition to yield to the claims of Rome and 
obey the pope rather than the government has been called 
Ultramontanism. It has manifested itself in 
Kuitur-Kampf. France, and especially in Germany, where it 
has led to the famous Kultur-Kampf. This 
was a conflict between the papacy and the German im- 
perial, government. It was caused by the entrance into 
the new German empire of the Catholic German States of 
the old Confederacy. The occasion of the outbreak of 
the conflict was the appropriation of money for the sup- 
port of the Old Catholics by the government. As the Old 
Catholics had gone out of the Roman communion, in 
making an appropriation for them, it was necessary to cut 
down the appropriation made for the Roman Catholics. 
This was called an act of persecution, and resented. 



298 CHURCH HISTORY. 

In another locality the question of education proved to 
be the bone of contention. Ledochowski, the primate of 
Poland, tried to exclude the German language 
fpec°tion In from the schools of his diocese in Prussia. 
This led to the passing of the imperial School 
Inspection law of 1872, by which the control of schools 
was transferred from the Church to the State. The 
bishops protested against this measure as persecution, 
and denounced it as dechristianizing education. 

Still another question, arising out of the two preced- 
ing, was the status of the Jesuits. It was found that the 
members of this order were active in foment- 
Jesuits. ing opposition to the legislation of the empire. 

Two laws were passed directed against them. 
The first forbade the use of the pulpit for political pur- 
poses on penalty of imprisonment for two years. The 
second suppressed the order of Jesuits, closed their 
schools, and provided against their reappearance under 
another name. 

Finally, the May Laws (1873-1874) furnished an- 
other subject of dispute. These laws required citizen- 
ship in Germany, as a qualification for hold- 
May Laws, ing ecclesiastical office. In addition they 
required an educational qualification of the 
equivalent of a three-years' course in some German uni- 
versity, with due preparation preceding. And further 
they prescribed close supervision by the government 
of all ecclesiastical offices and the manner in which they 
were filled. They called forth an encyclical letter from 
Pius IX. {Quod nunquam) alleging that they were tyran- 
nical and that no one was under obligation to obey 
them. 

At this stage the controversy remained to the death of 
Pius and for some time after. But political conditions 
compelled the German government to com- 
Reconciiiatioa promise the matter with Leo XIII. and a rec- 
onciliation was effected in 1887. 



CHAPTER XIV. 

PROTESTANTISM IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY. 

Soon after the confusion created in Europe by the 
French Revolution and the doings of Napoleon was set- 
tled, the Lutherans and Reformed of Germany 
fo?medlnd Re " uni ted in one state Church. Prussia led the 
Lutheran movement for union. King Frederick Wil- 

Germany! Ham III., a devout and earnest man, sug- 
gested the plan on the occasion of the 300th 
anniversary of the Reformation in 18 17, and it was 
successfully carried out within his domains in 1829. A 
small fraction of the Lutheran Church, however, refused 
to enter the reunited state Church, and remained inde- 
pendent. From this smaller body the Immanuel Synod 
later seceded, on the ground of Romanizing tendencies 
in it, and thus eventually there came to exist three Prot- 
estant churches instead of two in Germany. 

In France an Appendix to the Concordat of 1801 

guaranteed freedom to Protestants and equality with the 

Roman Catholics. When the Bourbons were 

Reformed restored in 181 c the Catholics in the south of 

Church in . y . . . 

France. the country undertook a series of persecutions 

against the Reformed, which, however, the 
government was constrained by popular opinion to 
prevent. A theological school for Calvinists at Montau- 
ban and one for Lutherans at Strasburg were established, 
and since 1830 further legislation has confirmed and en- 
larged the privileges enjoyed by the Reformed as a free 
Church. 

In Italy the Waldensian Church, surviving the troubles 
and changes of three hundred years, came to the front 

299 



300 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



with the agitations of 1848, and secured 
i^itdy SianS formal recognition and civil rights. But as 
the language used by the Waldensians of 
Piedmont was French, the Waldensians of Italy separated 
into the Free Church of Italy in 1854, aiming at the same 
time under De Sanctis (1808-1869), and Gavazzi (1809- 
1889), at a more thoroughly evangelical spirit. 

The Reformed Church of Holland has been disturbed 
by the rise of a rationalistic tendency within it. As a 
result of the conflict with rationalism the 
in Holland. Church was divided in 1839 ^ nto tne evan- 
gelical Christian Reformed Church and the 
rationalistic Reformed State Church. Within the latter 
body a reaction towards evangelicalism has devel- 
oped three parties — the Calvinistic wing led by Kuyper, 
the Rationalistic led by Kuenen and Scholten, and the 
Middle evangelical party led by Van Oosterzee. There 
has also existed in Holland a small Lutheran Church. 

In Scotland the system of lay patronage, abolished in 
the revolution of 1688, was restored by Queen Anne in 
1712. But the Church never acquiesced in 
IcoUaTid Urch m this restoration. A constant feeling of oppo- 
sition was cherished for over a century, and 
found vent in frequent protests. Finally the Assembly 
of 1834 passed the Veto Act, conceding to each congre- 
gation the right of rejecting ministers placed over them by 
lay patrons. But the advocates of lay patronage appealed 
to the civil courts and were sustained by them. Its op- 
ponents appealed to Parliament for redress, and failing to 
get it, seceded in 1843 and organized the Free Church 
under the leadership of Thomas Chalmers. The nucleus 
of the new organization consisted of 451 ministers who 
relinquished their places and emoluments without any 
other resources, but such as the free-will offerings of 
those who were like-minded with themselves. But with 
the learning and ability of wise leaders, of whom Chalmers 
was the chief, they soon put the Free Church on a sound 
basis. In 1876 the Cameronians and Reformed Presby- 
terians joined the Free Church. In 1847 tne United Se- 
cession Church and the Relief Church, which had existed 



PROTESTANTISM IN THE 19TH CENTURY. 



301 



as separate bodies for a century, amalgamated in the 
United Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and thus the 
number of Presbyterian churches in Scotland has been 
reduced to three. 

The theology of the period has been affected, as already 
intimated, by the course of philosophic thought. The 
mediator between philosophy and theology in 
Schieiermacher. Germany was Friedrich Schleiermacher (1768- 
1834), a man of keen analytical and critical 
genius, and at the same time of warm glowing piety. He 
laid down the fundamental propositions, that religion is 
the sense of dependence, that dogmatic theology is the 
consciousness of the Church put into expression, that sin 
is the dominion of the flesh over the spirit ; Christ came, 
as the only miracle in the world, to reverse this order and 
establish the dominion of the spirit over the flesh, and, 
finally,that Christ does this by overcoming evil and making 
those who trust in him sharers in his victory and rule 
over evil. Christ thus realizes the God-consciousness. 
He will ultimately restore all things to their proper 
sphere. 

The influence of Schleiermacher was immeasurable and 
wholesome. Although he did not lead theology back to 
the strictest evangelicalism, he restored it to 
His influence, a respected place and stimulated discussion, 
so that in modified forms his system has re- 
appeared within evangelicalism. Some of his most 
eminent followers in Germany have been Neander, J. P. 
Lange, Twesten, Julius Miiller, Dorner, and R. Rothe. 

Hegelianism also issued in important theological 
speculations. David Friedrich Strauss (1808-1874) tried 
under its subtle pantheistic influence to re- 
Ba^rTnd the solve the Gospel history into a web of myth, 
Tubingen spun unconsciously by the apostolic genera- 

tion, but found himself at the last constrained 
to drift into pantheistic atheism. Ferdinand Christian 
Baur ("1792-1860) sought with greater care to construct a 
philosophy of history on the Hegelian basis and apply it 
to the early ages of Christianity. He founded the Tubin- 
gen School of Criticism, which worked on the basis that 



3 o2 CHURCH HISTORY. 

the Church arose out of a conflict of tendencies. But the 
theory after being elaborated by a group of brilliant 
scholars was seen to be unsatisfactory. 

Finally, Albrecht Ritschl (1822-1889) rebelled against 
the domination of philosophy in theology, and founded a 

new non-metaphysical system. Accepting the 
Ritschl. supernatural, as well as the authority of 

Jesus Christ, but separating all metaphysical 
elements and excluding them as extraneous, and at the 
same time applying a rigid criticism to the sources of 
Christian thought, he attempts out of the residue to con- 
struct the primitive teaching of Christianity. His system 
has been welcomed by some as a reaction from rational- 
ism, and has exerted an increasing influence on the the- 
ological thought of Germany and Great Britain. 

The influence which has leavened theology in England, 
however, has been that of the elder philosophy passed 

through the refining mind of Samuel Taylor 
S.T.Coleridge. Coleridge (1772-1834). Coleridge taught 

that belief in God is a dictate of the con- 
science, and that it is therefore a duty to believe and a 
sin not to believe. Faith in Christ follows belief in God 
on the presentation of Christ to the mind. But to the 
believer in Christ the next step is quite as natural, being 
faith in the Scriptures. Original sin consists in the choice 
of a sinful earthly life in a previous condition of existence. 
Coleridge's views, animated by the spirit of the 
latitudinarian movement of the previous age, produced 

the Broad Church party in England. The 
Broad church earlier phase of Broad Churchism was repre- 

Party in Eng- - \ - . . r r . L 

land. sented in the writings of a group 01 writers 

called the Earlier Oriel School. The main 
aim of these writers was to make the Established Church 
as comprehensive as possible. They taught accordingly 
that episcopacy was justified by expediency, but not 
necessarily by divine appointment. Most prominent 
among the Early Oriel men were Richard Whateley 
(1787-1863), and Thomas Arnold (1795-1842). The 
later Broad Church party includes men like Frederick D. 
Maurice (1805-1872), Charles Kingsley (1819-1875), 



PROTESTANTISM IN THE 19TH CENTURY. 303 

Henry H. Milman (1 791-1868), Arthur P. Stanley (1815- 
1881), F. YV. Robinson (1816-1853), and Julius C. Hare 
( I 79S _I ^SS)' wno not: on ^y adopted the comprehensive- 
ness of their predecessors of the Early Oriel School, but 
also departed from the common beliefs of the Church in 
theology. 

The most marked movement in the Anglican Church 
during the present age has been the rise of the High 
Church party. This movement began with a 
Tractarianism. revival, especially at Oxford University, of 
the study of history. The theology of the 
middle ages attracted men and begat a desire for a return 
to it, purged, of course, of its objectionable features. 
John Henry Newman (1801-1890), Henry E. Manning 
(1808-1892), John Keble (1792-1866), Edward B. Pusey 
(1800-1882), and Frederick W. Faber (1814-1863), all men 
of great talents and fervent imaginative temperament, as 
well as sincere piety, banded themselves together in the 
publication of a series of Tracts for the Times. In these 
they made an attack on the growing laxity of the Church 
in matters of doctrine and polity. Tract No. go, written 
by Newman, created a special stir by its advocacy of 
Romanizing tendencies. In other productions the 
Tractarians insisted on the apostolic origin of the 
episcopate, and the necessity of apostolic succession 
They taught baptismal regeneration, and the real 
presence, in a transubstantiational sense, of the body and 
blood of Christ in the Eucharist. 

Their effort was, in a word, to find a middle ground 
between the Lutheran or rather Anglican Reform and 
the Roman Catholic Church. But this they found im- 
possible. One by one their leaders, Newman, Faber and 
Manning, joined the Roman Catholic communion. Keble 
and Pusey remained with the High Church party and led 
it in its warfare against Broad Churchism and evangel- 
icalism. 

The evangelical party in the Church, meanwhile, under 

the name of the Low Church party, has en- 

Party Church g a g ed in practical labors looking to the 

advancement of the gospel and spread of 

spiritual ideals. 



3°4 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



A new church sprang up under peculiar circumstances 
in Scotland. Edward Irving (i 792-1834), a former col- 
league of Chalmers at Glasgow, was in 1833 
a^d7he d cl r t V hoi g ic deposed from the ministry by the Presbytery 
Apostolic of Annan for heresy. His peculiar views 

were that Jesus Christ took on himself sin- 
ful human nature, with inborn predisposition to moral 
evil and corruption ; that through the Holy Spirit he 
kept this nature from breaking out in open sin, and 
gradually purified it through struggle and suffering and 
death; that the atonement consists in this purification ; 
men become partakers of the purified humanity of Christ 
by faith. The work of the Holy Spirit in the Church was 
exemplified in the apostolic age and the Church must re- 
turn to the exact type of life of the apostolic Church, in- 
cluding the restoration of the apostolate and of extraor- 
dinary manifestations of the Holy Spirit. Upon the basis 
of these views The Catholic Apostolic Church was or- 
ganized. 

The chief characteristic, however, of the contemporary 
period, is its devotion to practical Christian work. It is 
during this age that Bible societies, Sabbath- 
Tendency, schools, tract societies, Christian alliances, 
and a world-wide missionary effort have been 
undertaken by the evangelical churches. All of these 
have been attended with remarkable success, and given a 
peculiar character to nineteenth-century evangelicalism 
which cannot fail to remain on it as its permanent badge. 
The first of these practical enterprises of the Protestant 
churches was the foreign missionary work. Up to the 
end of the eighteenth century missionary 
Ham S Care Wil ~l a b° rs by Protestants were sporadic and in- 
dividual. At the beginning of the present 
era a new principle was brought into this field, that 
of organization into local and private societies of evan- 
gelicals who had the conversion of the heathen at 
heart. The initiator of the new stage of missionary 
life in this manner was William Carey (1761-1834), who 
persuaded twelve Baptist ministers to contribute the sum 
of ^"13 2s. 6d. ($65), and organize themselves into the 



PROTESTANTISM IN THE 19TH CENTURY. 



305 



Particular Society for Propagating the Gospel among 
the Heathen. This was in 1792. Carey went to 

Calcutta as the missionary of this association. 
aries MlSS1 ° n " The experiment proved a perfect success. 

Marshman and Ward followed Carey, and 
within twenty -five years another Baptist organization was 
started under the name of the " General Baptist Missionary 
Society " (18 16). Both of these societies have had ample 
support and encouragement through their history since. 
The new idea was taken up by the other evangelical 
bodies. In 1795 the London Missionary Society was 

formed, and Robert Morrison (1 782-1834) was 
Morrison, sent to China, where he translated the Bible 

\\ imams, Ellis, . . . .. . . 

Moffat, Liv- and paved the way for all subsequent mission 
mgston. work by composing a grammar and diction- 

ary of the language for the use of future missionaries. 
The same society sent John Williams (1 796-1839) to the 
South Sea Islands and William Ellis (1794-1872) to Mada- 
gascar, which was ultimately Christianized, giving occa- 
sion, however, during the process of its conversion for the 
manifestation on the part of native converts of the highest 
type of Christian heroism under persecution. Robert 
Moffat (1 795-1883) spent his life in South Africa, and 
David Livingstone (1813-1873), his son-in-law, penetrated 
beyond the boundaries of that portion of Africa which 
was known, and opened the way for commerce and civili- 
zation as well as for the preaching of the gospel to tribes 
and in regions previously unknown. 

In Scotland the Scottish Missionary Society was organ- 
ized in Edinburgh in 1796. It occupied as its special fields 
regions of India, China, and the Mohamme- 
Scottish Mis- d an Tartars of Russia dwelling between the 
Caspian and the Black Seas. The Glasgow 
Missionary Society came into existence the same year 
and chose for its labors Kafraria in Africa. A remark- 
able episode in the life of this society was the diversion 
of the gift of Robert Haldane from the cause of foreign 
missions to home missionary work in Scotland. The 
gift was turned aside from its original purpose because it 
had been designated for the support of missionaries in 
20 



2o6 CHURCH HISTORY. 

India, and when the attempt was made to land these mis- 
sionaries it was not permitted by the authorities. 

The Church Missionary Society was in a certain 

sense an offshoot of the London Missionary Society. 

The latter was started as an interdenomina- 

Church Mis- tional association. But the Anglican members 

sionary Society. r . , , . . . , °_ , . 

of it deemed it their duty to undertake a work 
of their own on a larger scale than was represented in a 
partial interest in the older society. Their anticipations 
of the greatness of the work they could accomplish have 
been fully realized. The Church Society has had a re- 
markable growth, and has occupied fields in Africa, 
India, New Zealand, China, Mauritius, and the Victoria 
Nyanza. Another very prosperous missionary society has 
been that of the Wesleyan Methodists of England. This 
has also occupied hard and apparently inaccessible fields, 
such as the islands of Polynesia, South Africa, South 
India, and South China. 

But the missionary idea also crossed the English Chan- 
nel and resulted in the formation of a large number of 

societies in almost all the Protestant countries 
The Missionary f Europe. At the same time the Moravians 

Idea crosses . , * -^ ., TT11 ■««-. 

the Channel. and the Danish Halle Mission, in existence 
previously, received a new infusion of life. 
Among the fruits of this revival of evangelistic zeal are 
to be numbered missionary organizations in such lands as 
the Netherlands, harassed as it was by rationalism, and 
France, with its persecuted Reformed Church. 

The main work of preaching the gospel, it was soon 
found on the mission fields, was not only strengthened by 
work in education, medicine and special min- 
Speciai Mis- istrations to special classes, but in many 
instances it could not very well be accom- 
plished without such special ministrations. Thus arose 
medical missionary societies, like that of Edinburgh 
founded by Dr. Abercrombie in 1841 ; women's mission- 
ary societies were also formed first in 1854 to penetrate 
into the Zenana system of India. Finally, the Jews were 
chosen as a special class needing a course of dealing 
different from any other subjects, and organizations were 



PROTESTANTISM IN THE 19TH CENTURY. 307 

established having as their special work the Christianiza- 
tion of Israelites. 

The last step forward in the growth of the missionary 
idea was taken in 1830 when Thomas Chalmers persuaded 

the Church of Scotland to resolve itself prac- 
Churchesas tically into a missionary society. The work 
Organizations, belonged, he claimed, to the Church as such, 

and not to any number of its members as pri- 
vate individuals. The proposal was accepted and Alex- 
ander Duff (1806-1878) was sent to India as the mission- 
ary of the Church of Scotland. When the Free Church 
broke away from the Establishment in Scotland Duff 
attached himself to the new branch. Both the branches 
have continued their missionary work on the basis of the 
principle of Chalmers, besides furnishing an example to 
other churches in the same direction. 

The call came from the mission field quite early for the 
Bible in the vernacular languages of the peoples to whom 

the missionaries were taking the gospel. To 
Bible Societies, meet this demand the British and Foreign 

Bible Society was formed in 1804 as an 
undenominational organization. The question, however, 
presently arose whether the Apocrypha of the Old Testa- 
ment constitutes a part of the Bible which this society was 
to distribute. After an agitation of two years (1827- 
1828) this "Apocrypha controversy" was closed by the 
exclusion of the disputed books from the society's printed 
Bibles. But this conclusion was not satisfactory to the 
branches of the society in Germany, and these accordingly 
seceded and formed the Berlin Bible Society. 

The Bible began to be taught to the children, especially 
of the poor and destitute, also, with the beginning of the 

contemporary period. The founder of the 
Sunday-Schools. Sunday-school was Robert Raikes. He 

gathered together, in 1781, some poor illiterate 
children and began to teach them reading and writing 
in order that he might later instruct them in the Bible and 
the catechism. The evangelical churches seized upon 
the idea and soon the Sunday-school became one of the 
indispensable agencies for imparting religious knowledge 



3 o8 CHURCH HISTORY. 

to the children of the rich and poor alike. As first pro- 
jected it was naturally crude. It was reformed, or rather 
improved, in 1820 by James Gall, who introduced the ele- 
ment of instruction in place of a large amount of memo- 
rizing, previously constituting the main work. Later uni- 
form lessons were introduced, and finally the Interna- 
tional system now in use was adopted in 1872. 

The feeling of internal unity among evangelicals in 
spite of outward differences led, at the opening of the cen- 
tury, to various efforts at amalgamation which 
The Eyangeii- w ere partially successful. In the Evangelical 

cil AJ.li3.Tice 

Alliance, however, there was found an instru- 
ment for expression and at the same time promoting this 
feeling in view of the growth of Roman Catholicism on 
the one side and of unbelief on the other. One of the 
first promoters of the Alliance was Thomas Chalmers. 
It was organized in 1846 with the threefold end in view 
of promoting fraternal relations among evangelical Chris- 
tians, of defending and disseminating the fundamental 
truths of the gospel, and of defending and promoting tol- 
eration and religious liberty everywhere. 

Its constitution includes the following articles as the 

basis of belief accepted by the covenanting evangelical 

bodies: (1) The divine origin and inspiration 

institution of the Scriptures of the Old and New Testa- 

and Works. / \ i • r m • • 

ments ; (2) the doctrine of the Trinity ; (3) 
the doctrine of the Incarnation or the divinity of Jesus 
Christ ; (4) the doctrine of original Sin ; (5) justifica- 
tion by faith alone ; (6) the necessity and obligatory 
nature of the two sacraments of Baptism and the Lord's 
Supper ; (7) the resurrection of the body ; (8) the 
future judgment ; and (9) everlasting rewards and 
punishments. The Alliance has strictly adhered to this 
basis and has therefore not included Unitarianism, the 
Society of Friends, or any other bodies which are only in 
general sympathy with its objects, but cannot accept 
these fundamental positions. It has held conventions at 
irregular intervals and has striven to realize the ends of 
its founders. 



CHAPTER XV. 

CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA DURING THE COLONIAL 
ERA (1492-1789). 

The first century after the discovery of the Western 
hemisphere was taken up with exploration. With the 

opening of the seventeenth century begins 
Discoveries. properly the period of colonization. But 

during the period both of exploration and of 
colonization the Christian religion made its advance on 
the continent side by side with the explorer and colonist. 
Columbus himself alleged three motives for his enter- 
prise of discovery, viz. : (1) desire for wealth, (2) love of 
adventure, and (3) search for new fields where the Church 
might be planted. Gain and adventure took a more 
important part in molding the course of those who 
followed him, but the religious motive was never alto- 
gether lost sight of. 

When the Spaniards under Cortez entered Mexico on 
their campaign of conquest they had in the invading army 

the missionary who was to be known as "the 
Exploration apostle of Mexico " — Bartolome de Olmedo. 

and Coloniza- *, r . , . . . 

tionofthe 1 hey finished their conquest in 1520, and 

?7 e £ e I n Hem " within twenty years after this event the natives 

ispnere. J J ... 

had nominally accepted Christianity through- 
out Mexico and California up to the line of the future 
State of Washington. This conversion was naturally 
superficial. It substituted Roman Catholic ceremonies 
in place of the human sacrifices and other abominable 
practices of the Aztec religion. But this in itself was a 
vast gain. 

Another Spanish missionary of the early days was Bar- 
tolome de Las Casas (1471-1566), who spent his life in 

309 



3™ 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



efforts to improve the condition of the Indians, often inter- 
posing between the Spaniards and the natives 
lonaries MlS an d saving the latter from cruel massacre. 
To keep the Spaniards from inflicting slavery 
on the Indians he suggested the idea of importing African 
slaves and lived long enough to regret that he had 
made the suggestion. 

Closely following the Spaniards in order of time came 
the French. They directed their course to the north- 
east and occupied Canada, founding Montreal 
French Jesuits, and establishing a seat of Jesuit influence. 
From this center the Jesuits reached the 
Indians of a vast tract extending over the States now 
lying between Maine and New York. Pressing into the 
interior, the French, accompanied by Jesuit priests, came 
to the Mississippi valley. Joliet and Father Marquette 
penetrated to the very headwaters of the great river, and 
then down the valley to the mouth of the Arkansas. 
Wherever they went they established missionary stations. 
LaSalle went even farther, reaching the Gulf of Mexico 
and proclaiming the whole territory a possession of King 
Louis XIV. of France, whence it was called Louisi- 
ana. The Protestants of France also took a share in 
settling the new continent. As early as 1562 and 1564 
colonies of Huguenots were sent by Coligny ; but their 
experiences were generally quite as unfortunate here as 
in the Old World. 

English explorers were among the very first to set out 
for the new Western continent. Under the Cabots — John 
and Sebastian — the English touched at Cape 
Colonies. Breton and skirted along the coast from New- 

foundland to Florida. Later came Martin 
Frobisher, Captain John Smith, Sir Walter Raleigh and 
others. Wherever these landed, without regard to pre- 
vious explorers or colonists, they proclaimed the land a 
possession of the king of England. To substantiate this 
claim it was deemed advisable to resort to the scheme 
of colonization. Sir Walter Raleigh repeatedly attempt- 
ed to take possession of the coast of North Carolina in 
this way but without success. The first successful 



CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA, 1492-1789. 3 1 1 

colony from England was that sent to the James River in 
1607. It consisted of English cavaliers under Captain 
John Smith, all enthusiastic members of the Church of 
England, which accordingly was fixed as their church. 
Efforts were made to convert the Indians, but they 
simply led to conflicts and massacres. The colony, 
however, prospered materially and increased in numbers. 

In 1620 the Plymouth colony landed on the coast of 
Massachusetts under very peculiar circumstances. It 
consisted of Brownists or Independents, who 
The Pilgrims, had sought for many years for a place where 
they might hold and practice their religious 
beliefs unmolested. They had taken up their residence 
in Holland for twelve years as a church of three hundred 
communicants under their pastor, John Robinson, but 
hearing of the New World and finding life in Holland only 
a little less objectionable than in England, they determined 
to face the dangers and trials of emigration. They em- 
barked in two vessels, the Mayflower and the Speedwell, 
The latter was found unseaworthy and returned to port. 
The Mayflower crossed with her passengers and landed 
them on Cape Cod, November 9, 1620. The next month 
they removed to the western side of Massachusetts Bay. 
They endured great hardships and lost half their num- 
ber from the severity of the first winter ; but they 
founded a town and called it Plymouth, from the last 
place they had seen in the Old World. 

A third English colony landed on the shores of New 
England in 1628, under John Winthrop. This consisted 
of eight hundred Puritans, and was equipped 
th^Pumans. with a charter given them by Charles I. 
Among them were some very able men, such 
as John Cotton, Thomas Hooker and Roger Williams. 
They established themselves near the Plymouth (Pil- 
grim) colony, and founded the town of Salem. They 
came into direct contact with the Pilgrims, and in organ- 
izing their ecclesiastical and civil government they 
imbibed many ideas from the earlier settlement, and 
ultimately adopted Independency as their permanent form 
of church polity. 



312 CHURCH HISTORY. 

In 1636, owing to differences on the question of the 

civil government, three settlements, led by Thomas 

Hooker, withdrew from Massachusetts and 

Hooker and established themselves in the towns of Wind- 

tne Connecticut XT . . i , TT * r> 1 -. 

Colony. sor, Hartford, and Wethersfield, and thus 

made up the nucleus of the future State of 
Connecticut. A colony at New Haven (Rodenburg) 
founded as an independent Puritan settlement, joined 
these river towns, and the Connecticut colony was thus 
fully organized in 1662. 

A fourth English colony was founded by Charles 
Calvert, Lord Baltimore, in Maryland, in 1634. Lord 

Baltimore had been a Protestant, but became 
Maryland! a Roman Catholic and determined to leave 

England. He secured the grant of a charter, 
and with a number of others like-minded with himself, 
he settled on the present State of Maryland. This 
colony, though chiefly consisting of Roman Catholics, 
was organized on a liberal basis. Protestants were toler- 
ated and welcomed into it. It was provided in its or- 
ganic law " that no person within this province profess- 
ing to believe in Jesus Christ shall be in any way trou- 
bled, molested, or discountenanced for his religion or in 
the free exercise thereof." This was a matter of policy. 
It was intended to draw colonists, but it proved ruinous 
to Roman Catholic interests. The Protestants came in 
larger numbers than the Catholics, and soon, finding them- 
selves in the majority, refused that liberty to " papacy, 
prelacy, and licentiousness," which the papists had 
granted them in 1688. With the revolution in England, 
the provincial government was overthrown, and the Church 
of England was made the established Church in Maryland. 
Still another English colony came over with William 
Penn, bringing a charter granted by Charles II. in 1681. 

These were members of the Society of 
Pennsylvania. Friends, and purchased from the Indians a 

large tract of territory. They established the 
colony of Pennsylvania, and made it the refuge of perse- 
cuted Quakers. But its constitution was the most liberal 
and tolerant hitherto known. All forms of religious be 



CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA, 1492-1789. 313 

lief were put on an equality. Only matters of conduct 
were made subjects of legislation, but in these matters 
strictness of discipline was exercised. 

The last of the English colonies was that founded in 
Georgia by Oglethorpe in 1732. He brought over a com- 
pany of unfortunate men, who in England had 
Georgia. incurred punishment for inability to pay their 

debts, as the laws of the country were on this 
matter severe to the point of cruelty. These were joined 
by a company of persecuted Protestants from Austria. 

Besides these large colonies, Great Britain contributed 
to the settlement of the land a number of smaller com- 
panies of Scotch and Irish, and Scotch-Irish 
pMies erC ° m " Protestants, who fled before the persecutions 
of the reign of Charles II. (1665-1685). 
These scattered over eastern New Jersey, Pennsylvania 
(especially the Cumberland and the Allegheny valleys), 
Maryland, Kentucky, and North Carolina. 

The English colonies in Virginia prospered and at- 
tracted emigrants in such a way as to suggest the send- 
ing out of colonies from the province into the 
Caroiinas. less thickly settled regions of the country 
further south. Thus arose the Caroiinas. 
The new settlements were, however, soon reinforced by 
emigrants directly from Europe, among whom were some 
from France of Huguenot affiliations, and some Luther- 
ans from Germany. 

Next to the English in commercial enterprise dur- 
ing the sixteenth and seventeenth century were the 
Dutch. Under the auspices of the Dutch 
Dutch settle- East India Company in l6o ^ Henry Hud- 
son started on a voyage of exploration, 
seeking especially for the northeast passage (the 
channel which unites the Atlantic and Pacific oceans). 
In the course of his travels he came to the mouth 
of the river which now bears his name. Thus 
Manhattan Island was settled in 16 15 by a few straggling 
traders, who established their posts along the river. The 
most important of these trading stations was the village 
of New Amsterdam. It was here that the first church 



3H 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



was organized on the Western hemisphere. All other 
religious organizations had come either as branches of 
churches existing in Europe, or as independent organiza- 
tions with a corporate life before they landed on the 
western shores. The church at New Amsterdam was 
patterned after the model of the Reformed Church in 
Holland, and was Presbyterian. During the course of 
the seventeenth century the English gradually encroached 
on the original settlers and gained on them until Peter 
Stuyvesant was finally forced to surrender the 
New York. colony to them. The name of New Amster- 
dam was changed to that of New York, and 
the Church of England was put in place of the Reformed 
Dutch in the position of established state Church. 

As the era of colonization advanced, it became evident 
that the new hemisphere was to be divided into two sec- 
tions, corresponding approximately with its 
Catholicism natural division into North and South America, 

and Puritanism . 

in America. and that the northern section was to be con- 
trolled by Protestants, while the southern 
would come under the domination of the Roman Catholic 
Church. The Catholic element in the North was re- 
duced to a secondary place, partly by a series of wars be- 
tween the Catholic French and the English Protestants, in 
which the latter ultimately obtained the upper hand, and 
partly by purchases and concessions, as at the time when 
Napoleon sold the province of Louisiana in order to re- 
plenish his empty exchequer. The territory of Texas was 
much later won from Mexico. 

Within Protestantism various principles as to the rela- 
tions of religion to the State made their appearance. In 
New England the basis of organization was at 
Protestantism. fi rst theocratic. Church membership was a 
qualification of citizenship. It is true, stat- 
utes to this effect were abrogated by Charles II. in 1662, 
but public sentiment kept the line between citizenship 
and church membership invisible. Laws were enacted 
excluding Quakers from the Massachusetts and New 
Haven colonies, and severe penalties were attached to 
the violation of these laws. For simply bringing a 



CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA, 1 492-1789. 



315 



Quaker into New Haven, for instance, a fine of ^50 was 
imposed. Quakers coming on their own account on busi- 
ness were punished for the first offense by whipping, hard 
labor, or seclusion. If the offense were repeated the 
transgressor was branded with a hot iron on one arm, as 
a heretic, with the letter H. Upon again repeating the 
offense he was branded on the other arm in the same 
manner, and on the fourth recurrence of the offense he had 
his tongue pierced with a red-hot iron. These penalties, 
though severe, were not any more so than penalties 
attached to similar laws, either in England or in Virginia, 
where the relations of Church and State were not based 
on the theocratic, but the Erastian principle. 

One of the earliest victims of strict theocratic rule in 

Massachusetts was Roger Williams (1600-1683). He 

was expelled from the Salem colony for deny- 

S°Rhode illiamsir1 ^ the vandit y of lne charter of the colony 
island and for teaching that the oath should not be 

administered to the unregenerate. He betook 
himself to Rhode Island and founded (1636) the city of 
Providence. Here also he joined himself to the Baptists 
for a time, but withdrew from their fellowship later. The 
new colony founded by him was the first to practice uni- 
versal toleration. Yet even here a law was enacted in 
1663 denying Roman Catholics civil rights and liberties. 
Meanwhile the Massachusetts colony grew steadily. It 
was felt as early as 1637 that some attention must be 

given to the question of organizing the Church 
Church Govern- and furnishing it with laws of discipline. A 
SmsetTs M cIm- synod was accordingly convened but did not 
bridge Platform. reach definite results. The legislature of the 

province called another synod in 1647 which 
appointed three divines — Cotton, Partridge, and Richard 
Mather — to draw up a platform for the churches. The 
result of their labors was the famous Cambridge Plat- 
form. The doctrinal standard in this document was the 
Westminster Confession. The articles referring to the 
administration of the government were generally on the 
Presbyterian basis. The churches were to have a pastor, 
a teacher and an elder chosen by the congregation and 



3 i 6 CHURCH HISTORY. 

ordained by the laying on of hands. Synods were to 
decide controversies and cases of conscience. 

When the New Haven and the Connecticut colonies 
united in 1665, it appeared that differences existed be- 
tween them which might be removed. But 
Filtform! no action was taken in the direction of alter- 

ing the earlier practices until 1708, when a 
synod was convened by the government and agreed on the 
Saybrook Platform. The influence of Presbyterianism 
on this section of New England is distinctly percept- 
ible in the provisions of this Platform. It prescribed 
the creation of consociations or permanent councils 
within the districts of the colony. These consociations 
were to consist of ministers and delegates and to act as 
final courts of appeal. A difference of opinion, however, 
arose as to the powers of the consociations, and with the 
wave of Independency which presently swept over New 
England, the Presbyterian tendency of the Platform was 
counteracted. 

It has been noted already that civil privileges were 
granted in New England only to members of the Church. 
Church membership was conditioned on pro- 
Covenanit. fession of the experience of a spiritual change. 
When the number of those who could not 
give a satisfactory account of such change increased, a 
movement was made to secure some recognition and 
standing for them in the State. It was proposed that 
they be regardedas full members of the Church, and given 
the right of presenting their children for baptism. After 
a controversy this proposition was adopted by a synod 
at Boston, and was called the Half-way Covenant. It 
remained in force until the middle of the eighteenth 
century, but its effect was felt by many to be detrimental 
to the spiritual life of the Church. 

The early colonists, both in New England and in other 

regions, were themselves mostly well educated men who 

had a keen appreciation of the advantages 

£ d the a co?onies. °^ education. They, therefore, no sooner 

built themselves houses to live in, than they 

also established free common schools for their children. 



CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA, 1492-1789. 317 

It was further among thern an absolutely indispensable 
qualification of their ministers that they should be well 
versed in the best learning of the day. As they could 
not and did not wish to depend on the universities of 
England for this training, they very early planted institu- 
tions of higher learning on the new soil. Harvard Uni- 
versity was started by a gift of John Harvard in Newtown 
(afterwards called Cambridge) in 1636. It secured a 
regular charter in 1650. In Virginia efforts 
Harvard, Vale, to establish a college proved unsuccessful 
until the last years of the seventeenth century, 
when William and Mary College was founded (1693). 
Yale College arose in consequence of the loss of Harvard 
to the cause of a strict orthodox theology in 1701. 

The year 1746 was signalized by the founding of two 
of the most successful institutions in the land. The first 
of these was Columbia College in New York ; 
Princ^on'. the second, the College of New Jersey. The 
latter was started by the Synod of New 
Jersey in Elizabethtown with Jonathan Dickinson as its 
president. When the first president died the college was 
removed to Newark in order to be under the presidency 
of the pastor in that town — the Rev. Aaron Burr — giving 
him an opportunity at the same time to continue in his 
pastoral relation. Presently, however, funds were raised 
and an offer of land for a permanent site was made by 
Princeton and the college was removed thither in 1757. 

Connected either directly or indirectly with these 
educational institutions there arose a line of eminent re- 
ligious thinkers and writers.* Many of these 
Theologians, have been incidentally named in association 
with their special labors. John Cotton (1585- 
1652) was the great theologian of the Puritan colony in 
Massachusetts. Thomas Hooker (1585-1647) was a 
master mind whose influence in organizing the colony of 
Connecticut was destined to be felt throughout the whole 
land. He gave the idea to the framers of the constitution 
of the colony, of the people governing themselves in the 
true sense. The Mather family furnished a succession of 
three men in three generations, all of whom contributed 



3i* 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



richly to the intellectual growth of the nation. Richard 
Mather (1596-1669) helped to frame the Cambridge 
Platform. Increase Mather, his son (1639-1723), was 
president of Harvard College and the writer of many 
works. Cotton Mather (1663-1728), son of Increase 
Mather, was a most prolific author whose works, espe- 
cially the Magnalia and the Wonders of the Invisible 
World, constitute a mine of information concerning the 
early history of New England. Jonathan Dickinson 
(1688-1747) and Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) were 
both presidents of Princeton College, and without doubt 
two of the greatest theologians that this country has 
produced. Edwards especially displayed in metaphysics 
a power that has not been surpassed. He was at the 
same time effective as a preacher and took part in the 
great revival of the middle of the eighteenth century ; he 
opposed the Half-way Covenant and was instrumental, 
perhaps more than any other, in bringing about its final 
abandonment. In many other ways he has left the per- 
manent impress of his wonderful personality on New 
England Theology. 

The theology of the Puritans was Calvinistic ; and as 
such it was maintained throughout the colonial era. 

Attempts to innovate in some essential partic- 
Hutchinsonians. ulars were, however, not wanting from the 

beginning. One of the most peculiar of these 
was the view proposed by Anne Hutchinson, and defended 
by her brother-in-law, John Wheelwright. According to 
these persons justification is produced by direct revelation 
or divine impression on the justified soul. The Holy Spirit 
by this impression establishes a union between himself 
and the Christian, and makes him incapable of sinning 
thenceforth. They further taught that there is no bodily 
resurrection, but that the doctrine of the Scriptures in- 
volves only a spiritual rising of the dead soul from sin by 
faith in Christ. For these views Anne Hutchinson was 
banished from the Massachusetts colony and later excom- 
municated on the charge of falsehood. Her followers who 
in some particulars, perhaps, went beyond her teachings 
and rightly incurred the charge of being Antinomians, 



CHRISTIANITY IN AMERICA, 1492-1789. 



3 l 9 



were silenced, and the controversy ended without the 
serious results feared from it. 

Another innovation attempted in New England was the 
view of the Lord's Supper propounded by Solomon Stod- 
dard. This divine held that the sacrament 
Solomon^ being a means of grace should be administered 

of the LordV ew to tne unregenerate with a view to their spirit- 
Supper, ual improvement and preparation for the re- 
generating influence of the Holy Spirit. Nat- 
urally this theory became associated with the Half-way 
Covenant. It never found much favor, however, beyond 
a small local circle in Boston. 

The religious life of the colonies varied naturally with 
the type of Christianity prevalent in each locality. While 
in the regions where the English Church had 
Religious Life, been brought over bodily with all its features, 
there was considerable looseness in discipline, 
wherever the Puritans had established themselves the 
severer and more sober elements were emphasized. 
Church services in such surroundings were characterized 
by extreme simplicity, though not by brevity. The sermon 
was made the main feature of the service, and consisted 
frequently of the discussion of some topic of dogmatic 
theology, which the preacher was expected to " improve " 
at the conclusion. The Old Testament was a favorite 
resort for texts. Special occasions were observed by 
fast and thanksgiving days, on which attendance at 
public service was required by civil statute. 

One of the most unique episodes in Church history is 
the Witchcraft Delusion of the closing years of the 
seventeenth century in Massachusetts. The 
Delusion^ 1 belief in witchcraft was common in Europe 
during the middle ages, and had been pre- 
served down to the time of the outbreak in New England. 
Here, however, it appeared as an epidemic. The belief 
gained ground that some women had formed an alliance 
with the devil and practiced magic arts by his aid. They 
were publicly accused of this, and in many instances, in 
spite of their protests, were put to death on slender and 
insufficient testimony of any misdeed. The delusion 



320 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



reached its acme in 1692. The Mathers have been criti- 
cised for encouraging and fomenting it. The truth, how- 
ever, is that they were simply the victims of the delusion, 
like their contemporaries, and the suggestion made by 
one Mather (Increase) that the accusers of the witches 
might be the real allies of the devil certainly had the 
effect of arresting the epidemic. 

In the effort to obtain a foothold on the land and build 
necessary institutions, the Christian colonists did not lose 
sight altogether of their duty to the heathen 
Missions. Indians by whom they were surrounded. 

Efforts were put forth at every point to bring 
them to the knowledge of the gospel. The most signifi- 
cant of these were those of John Eliot (1604-1690), "the 
apostle to the Indians." Born in England, this zealous 
missionary came over in 163 1, and set himself to the task 
of mastering the Pequot language with the aid of a native. 
He then began his labors among the Pequots, and be- 
came so enthusiastic that he was able to persuade his 
friends in England to organize themselves as the Society 
for promoting and propagating the Gospel of Jesus Christ 
in New England. He reduced the language of the abo- 
rigines to writing, composed grammars and primers, and 
translated Baxter's Gz//and Bayly's Practice of Popery into 
it. His principal work was a translation of the Bible into 
the Indian language (1661-1663). 

Many others took up the work, among them Sargeant, 
who established the Stockbridge Mission, and David 
Brainerd (1718-1747), who, in 1742, began at 
BrafneSi Kinderhook, near the Hudson River, and 

thence removed to the Susquehanna. His 
career was brief ; he labored for only four years, but his 
work was characterized by such Christian devotion that 
his example raised up and inspired many active Christi^Ti 
laborers. 



CHAPTER XVI. 

THE CHURCH IN AMERICA DURING THE NATIONAL 
ERA (1776- ). 

The war of Independence, for the time that it lasted, 
absorbed the whole energy and attention of the colonies 

and paralyzed activity in every other direction, 
ofTeHg^. 1011 the religious not excluded. It is true that 

the clergy, even of the Episcopal Church, 
which was directly allied and affiliated with the Church 
of England, declared themselves for the independence of 
the Colonies; but the reflex beneficial effect of this atti- 
tude in popularizing the cause of religion was counteracted 
by the natural evil result of a condition of war. At the 
end of the struggle the churches were in a much weaker 
state than for a generation before. 

At the same time deism was introduced into the 
colonies, both in its English and in its French forms. The 

French type became especially popular. It 
SSdSity d spread into the colleges. A contemporary calls 

the college of William and Mary " a hot-bed 
of French politics and religion." Yale College was, at the 
time when Timothy Dwight, the elder, assumed the presi- 
dency of it, full of societies and clubs of atheists. The 
students fell into the habit of taking on themselves the 
names of French infidels whom they specially admired. 
From the colleges the evil spread into politics. Many 
prominent men were pronounced adherents of deism. 
Dearborn considered churches as obstacles in the way of 
good government. Edmund Randolph was a deist, and 
Thomas Jefferson very nearly approached the same stand- 
point. Thomas Paine's Age of Reason was accepted as an 
oracle of truth by many, in spite of its superficiality and 
the many convincing answers that had been written in 
21 321 



322 CHURCH HISTORY. 

rebuttal of its positions. Under the power of these in- 
fluences the legislature of Kentucky dismissed its chaplain, 
and many of the towns of that colony went to the extent 
of changing their names for those of French unbelievers. 
The Church was numerically reduced and appeared to be 
on the verge of a collapse. The total number of Christian 
churches of every name was under two thousand, and of 
ministers under fifteen hundred. 

Out of this state of depression the Church was lifted to 
a healthier and more vigorous state by the great revival 
of 1796-1803. This awakening was not 
^96^803! characterized by the special prominence in it 
of any individual or individuals, but seemed 
to come spontaneously among the people. It began in 
Connecticut and spread throughout the whole land. In 
Yale College, President Dwight promoted the movement 
by his personal efforts. The number of professing 
Christian students in the college was increased from twelve 
to nearly ninety, and one-half of that number determined 
at once to enter the ministry. The other colleges of New 
England showed a similar change of complexion after the 
revival. Spreading to the westward, the movement led 
to home missionary work, the organization of Sunday- 
schools, Bible and tract societies, and the system of 
annual camp-meetings. 

When the colonies cut loose from the mother country, 
all the conditions favored the development of the feeling 
for an absolute separation of Church and 
flteS ur ° h State. The impossibility of a national estab- 
lished Church, on account of the differences 
of denominations in the various colonies, the indifference of 
many of the leading men in politics to all churches, the 
equal strength of many denominations in some of the 
colonies, all worked in favor of the system of free 
churches, which ultimately prevailed. Yet the change 
did not come without a struggle. In Virginia, the 
Baptists petitioned the legislature for liberty to exist as a 
free church, that is, to maintain their own ministry, observe 
their practices, and be exempt from taxation for the sup- 
port of any other church. This was in 1775. The 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA DURING THE NATIONAL ERA. 



3 2 3 



Presbyterians followed with a similar petition and were 
backed by the Quakers. But it took several years before 
the law securing the desired end could be framed and 
passed. This was finally done in 1785 as a result of the 
exertions of Thomas Jefferson. The other States followed 
the example of Virginia, though it was more than half a 
century later that the complete change from state to free 
churches could be made in some instances. 

Since the adoption by the Nation of the free as dis- 
tinguished from the established system, the history of the 
Christian Church in the country resolves 
?onaiSm a " itself into the survey of the denominational life 
of the various denominations of Christians. 

The Episcopal Church acquired a national independ- 
ent existence in this country with the consent of the 
Th e i English Parliament in 1785, and the conse- 

Church. 1SC ° pa cration of William White (1 748-1836) and 
WMt? y £bl^. Samuel Provost (1742-1808), in 1787, as bish- 
ops, respectively, of Philadelphia and New 
York. The previous experiences of the Church were dif- 
ferent in the different regions of the land. In Virginia 
and Maryland, and the settlements emanating from these, 
it was the state Church. In New York it became the es- 
tablished Church, with the transfer of the control from the 
Dutch to the English. In New England it was barely 
tolerated. By dint of active efforts, however, the Church 
made steady progress even here. In 1722, Timothy Cut- 
ler, president of Yale College, was won over to it, and 
with another Congregational minister — Samuel Johnson — 
made the journey to England to obtain reordination at the 
hands of a duly consecrated bishop in apostolic succes- 
sion. 

During the War of Independence the Episcopal Church 
suffered more than any other Christian church in the 
country, because so many of its clergy were loyalists and 
out of sympathy with the people whom they served. So 
strong did the sentiment grow against the affiliation with 
the Anglican Church, that when the war was ended many 
were thinking of establishing an independent American 
Church without an accredited episcopacy. But this dan- 



324 CHURCH HISTORY. 

ger was averted by the wise management of William 
White. At the same time the extreme High Church 
party had secured the consecration of Samuel Seabury 
(1729-1796) as bishop of Connecticut, in an irregular man- 
ner by the non-juring bishops of Scotland, and in spite of 
the refusal of Parliament to sanction the measure. This 
step created other complications, out of which the good 
judgment of White brought the Church safely. 

The prayer-book of the Episcopal Church was first rad- 
ically revised in 1785. Later there was a return to a more 

conservative revision. The High Church, 
^ow^church l ow Church and Broad Church parties of the 
Church. English Church have naturally had their 

branches on this side also. The Broad Church 
party has furnished one of the ablest preachers in the 
land in the person of the late bishop Phillips Brooks of 
Massachusetts. 

The most important event in the life of Congregation- 
alism since the beginning of the national era is the rise 

of Unitarianism within it. The first Unitarian 
RiseofUni- church in America, however, was drawn from 

tarianism. . » mi 

the Episcopalian fold. There were, indeed, 
many Unitarians in New England before the date of the 
change in this Episcopal Church (1785). EbenezerGay, 
Charles Chauncey,and Jonathan Mayhew held to Unitarian 
views, but they enjoyed the fellowship of the Trinitarian 
Gongregationalists, and Unitarianism had no separate 
denominational life until James Freeman (1759-1835) 
renounced his belief in the Trinity, and drew his church 
out of the Episcopal communion. Joseph Priestly (1733- 
1804) established another Unitarian church in Philadel- 
phia, but without much apparent effect in the way of 
drawing others into the same views. It was otherwise in 
New England. The organization of a distinctively Uni- 
tarian congregation in Boston was the signal for a conflict. 
Fuel was added to the fire by the appointment of Dr. 
Henry Ware to the professorship of theology in Harvard 
University in 1805. Jeremiah Evarts and Professor 
Leonard Woods led the attack in behalf of the Trinita- 
rians, and William E. Channing and Henry Ware took up 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA DURING THE NATIONAL ERA. 



3 2 5 



the defense. The rupture was completed by the refusal 
of the Trinitarians to hold fellowship with the Unitarians. 
Among the ablest in the latter body have been 
Chlnnin William E. Channing (1780-1842), distin- 

guished for his noble personal character, his 
moderation, and literary style ; Theodore Parker (1810- 
1860), also a master of style, and James Freeman Clarke. 
Unitarianism, however, proved only a transitional stage 
for some of those who adopted it. The denial of the 
divinity of Jesus Christ was to them a step 
JlSm Cendent " towards the denial of the supernatural origin 
of historic Christianity. But as they were un- 
willing to reject the moral and religious ideas of the 
Christian system, they took the position that historic facts 
are of no consequence as a basis of religion. Ideas 
are the all-essential elements and these transcend facts. 
From this the movement was called Transcendentalism. 
Its originator was Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882), 
who, as a Unitarian minister, was associated with Henry 
Ware. He found himself out of sympathy with the teach- 
ings of the denomination, and left its ministry in order 
the more freely to propagate his views through the 
medium of literature. A group of bright intellects joined 
Emerson to form the Concord School of Philosophy, 
but the older Unitarians, like Channing and Ware, 
opposed Transcendentalism. 

Trinitarian Congregationalism, in the meantime starting 
on the basis of the Calvinism of Jonathan Edwards, built 
on it the New England theology. The 
Theoio^. land special features of this system were the denial 
of the imputation of Adam's sin to his pos- 
terity, the teaching that man is born with a depraved 
nature, which may be called sinful because it inevitably 
leads to sin, but is not itself the ground of condemnation, 
as only a voluntary act can be such ground, the doctrine 
of moral inability in place of natural inability of the 
sinner to do good, and a universal atonement. Samuel 
Hopkins (17 21-1803), a pupil of Edwards, asserted most 
emphatically the Calvinistic doctrines of election and the 
sovereignty of God. He reduced all sin to selfishness 



326 CHURCH HISTORY. 

and placed repentance at the beginning of all good. 
Without it no one can perform any good deed. He 
further made conversion the unconditional surrender or 
resignation of the will to God. The younger Edwards 
(1740-1801) adopted the Grotian theory of the atone- 
ment. Nathaniel Emmons (1745-1840) elaborated Kop- 
kinsianism in a pantheistic tendency and offended many 
moderate theologians. Joseph Bellamy (17 19-1790) 
attempted to solve the problem of evil by asserting that 
evil is the means of the greatest good. Timothy Dwight 
(1752-1817) opposed some of the more striking features 
of New England theology, and stood on more moderate 
Calvinistic ground. Nathaniel W. Taylor (1786-1858) 
passed over to semi-Pelagian ground and was opposed by 
Bennet Tyler (1783-1858), an adherent of the covenant 
theology. Finally Horace Bushnell (1802-1876) elabo- 
rated with great literary taste the moral theory of 
the Atonement, and the Oberlin theologians, Asa Ma- 
han and Charles G. Finney, taught Christian perfec- 
tionism. 

The Congregational churches have been active in 
foreign missionary work, especially since the opening of 

the present century. In conjunction with 
Missions of many Presbyterian churches, they founded the 
tionfnsS" American Board of Commissioners for Foreign 

Missions in 1810. This organization has been 
instrumental in the complete Christianization of the Sand- 
wich Islands and in the spread of the gospel among the 
native Indians as well as abroad in China and Japan, 
in Syria, in Turkey and elsewhere. 

During the whole of the colonial period the Baptists 
were proscribed and persecuted through the larger 

portion of the country. Roger Williams 
Baptists. ( 1 606-1 683) is generally regarded as the 

founder of the denomination in America, and 
it is true that he was rebaptized as an adult and opened 
a refuge, so to speak, for Baptists when he founded the 
colony of Providence ; but he did not continue to hold 
fellowship with them to the end. In Massachusetts, Oba- 
diah Holmes was publicly whipped for preaching against 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA DURING THE NATIONAL ERA. 



327 



infant baptism in 1651 at Boston. In New York, Baptists 
were liable to fine, imprisonment, and banishment. They 
were somewhat more mildly treated in Pennsylvania, Mary- 
land and South Carolina. During the War of Indepen- 
dence they were stanch supporters of independence, and 
soon after the end of the war they obtained the free- 
dom of conscience for which they had struggled so 
long, and entered on a career of growth and earnest 
activity. 

They have been distinguished for missionary labors, 
inferior in their extent and success to those of no other 

denomination. Their missionary society, The 
Missions. American Baptist Union, has a larger roll of 

communing converts than any other mission- 
ary association. The accession of Adoniram Judson 
(1 788-1850) to the denomination after he had sailed as a 
missionary to Burmah, had no doubt a stimulating effect 
on the zeal of all Baptists in this direction. When they 
insisted on translating the words " baptizo " and " bap- 
tisma " by " immerse " and " immersion " in the Bibles to 
be used by their converts in the new fields, the Bible 
society declined to circulate these translations, and they 
organized their own Baptist Bible society. 

The Baptist denomination, holding as it does to the 
Independent or Congregational form of polity, has not 

been particularly subject to disruption. And 
Campbeilites. yet it has had one important schism within it, 

owing to the propagation of some peculiar 
views by Alexander Campbell (1788-1855). Campbell 
taught that regeneration is effected by the Word, that 
is, the truth presented in the Scriptures, through which 
alone the Holy Spirit exercises his influence. In bap- 
tism the regeneration of the Christian is completed by 
his personal acceptance and justification in the presence 
of God. No human creed should be imposed or sub- 
mitted to. Campbell and the Campbeilites were ex- 
cluded from fellowship by the Baptists in 1827 and have 
had a separate existence ever since. 

Among those who came from England in the earliest 
colonies there were many who preferred the Presbyterian 



32 8 CHURCH HISTORY. 

polity to the Independent. These, however, did not in- 
sist on their preferences, but acquiesced in 
Presbyterians the prevailing sentiment favoring Congrega- 
iand. ew ng tionalism. So also those Presbyterians who 
came later into New England in large 
numbers, according to Cotton Mather's testimony, from 
Scotland and the north of Ireland, found it a compara- 
tively easy task to adopt the Congregationalism of New 
England. They were also evidently allowed to exert 
some influence in modifying Congregationalism, as during 
the course of the eighteenth century this system under- 
went a marked change approaching Presbyterianism. 
But with a wave of reaction there was a return to a more 
rigid independency. 

The Presbyterians who settled in Virginia were sub- 
jected to persecution and were obliged to remove into 
Maryland. It was into this region that about 
Makemie. the closing years of the seventeenth century 
Francis Makemie came from Donegal in 
Ireland (1683). His tireless zeal and energy resulted in 
a large increase in numbers and the consolidation of the 
Presbyterian elements, so that in 1705 a presbytery was 
organized in Philadelphia — the first on the continent. 
Eleven years later, the presbytery grew into a synod. 
In order the better to maintain its order and doctrine, 
the synod passed an act in 1729 making the West- 
minster Confession its authoritative creed. But as there 
was a large element opposed to the strict construction of 
this Confession it was stipulated that assent should not 
be required to articles "not essential and necessary to 
doctrine, worship, and government." 

The question of the kind of education to be given the 
ministry, combined with the question of the status of 
revivalists in the Church and their relation to 
w™?7& ° f tne re g ular ministry, produced a controversy 
early in the history of American Presbyterian- 
ism. William Tennent (1673-1746) established a college 
at Neshaminy, some twenty miles north of Philadelphia, 
known as the Log College. In connection with this in- 
stitution his two sons, Gilbert and William, labored also 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA DURING THE NATIONAL ERA. 



3 2 9 



as preachers, joining Whitefield in his evangelistic work. 
These evangelists made statements in the course of their 
ministrations which were construed by the more con- 
servative Presbyterians as meaning that regeneration was 
to be tested by one's emotions. They were further con- 
sidered to be the supporters of a new order of itinerating, 
and, in most cases, uneducated and unauthorized min- 
istry. For these reasons they were denominated " New 
Lights " or " the New Side " while their opponents were 
called " Old Lights" or " the Old Side.*' The discussion 
ultimately issued in a disruption in which the " New 
Side ■' was organized into the synod of New York, em- 
bracing, however, Princeton College and a part of Penn- 
sylvania. The schism lasted thirteen years (1745-1758). 
The Presbyterian Church in America assumed national 
proportions, when, in 1788, the General Assembly was or- 
ganized. In 1801 a Plan of Union was 
Disruption of adopted between Congregationalists and 
Presbyterians, for the sake of cooperation in 
the home and foreign mission fields. This was an agree- 
ment, according to which ministers of one denomination 
could labor with the approval of the other, holding them- 
selves responsible to the government of their own de- 
nomination, but admitting the other to legal standing in 
cases where the other had a legal interest. The plan 
worked favorably to Presbyterianism as far as growth in 
numbers was concerned. Most of the new churches 
organized on the home mission field were absorbed by 
the Presbyterian Church. But this numerical growth 
was counterbalanced by a decrease in strictness of 
government. Many of the newly received churches and 
ministers were not Presbyterian by conviction. The 
Presbyterians of the older school looked on this growing 
laxity with anxiety. When Hopkinsianism and the New 
England theology in general began to spread within the 
denomination, two parties became distinctly visible ; the 
" Old School," consisting of those who adhered to the 
Scotch Calvinistic system, and the " New School/' embrac- 
ing those who believed in the new views, together with 
those who would allow such to remain in the fellowship 



330 CHURCH HISTORY. 

of the Church. The controversy was complicated by 
differences as to the administration of the missionary 
work. The Old School sentiment expressed itself vehe- 
mently. The attempt was made to restrict the growth 
of looseness by ecclesiastical trials, notably those of 
Albert Barnes in 1830, and Lyman Beecher in 1835. 
Finally, the Old school party, having obtained the majority 
in 1837, exscinded three synods in New York and one in 
Ohio. The minority organized into the New School 
Presbyterian Church. These two bodies remained sepa- 
rate until 1870, when they reunited on the basis of the 
standards pure and simple. 

The subject of the education of the ministry led to 
another agitation, ending in a disruption in 18 10. When 

the great revival of 1797-1803 reached Ken- 
PresbytSranism. tuc ky, the growth by accession of conversions 

was so rapid that educated ministers could 
not be provided for all the churches. The Presbytery of 
Cumberland met the difficulty by ordaining men who 
could not meet the educational requirements of the 
Church. For this step the synod of Kentucky dissolved 
this presbytery in 1806. After waiting for a change of 
base on the part of the synod, the Presbytery of Cumber- 
land was re-organized by Finis Ewing, Samuel King and 
Samuel McAdow in 1810. As the synod and General 
Assembly declined to recognize this presbytery, it existed 
independently, and took the name of the Cumberland 
Presbyterian Church, revising the Westminster Confes- 
sion and modifying its Calvinism. 

The question of slavery led to another division. The 
New School presbyteries of the slave-holding states 

seceded from the New School Assembly in 
Ehur h ch rn 1857. The Old School presbyteries in the 

same region left the Old School Assembly in 
1 86 1. Two years later these presbyteries united in the 
Presbyterian Church in the United States. The funda- 
mental principle of this Church is that the Church, as a 
purely spiritual institution, must abstain from legislation 
with reference to political questions. 

Presbyterianism has taken a very prominent part in the 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA DURING THE NATIONAL ERA. 331 

active work of evangelizing the heathen through its Board 
of Foreign Missions. It has contributed also 
Missions!™ largely to all inter-denominational under- 
takings for the advancement of temperance 
and peace. It has been prominent in educational work 
through Princeton College and the numerous institutions 
of the same type throughout the land. It has planted 
theological seminaries in Princeton, Auburn, New York 
(Union), Allegheny, Cincinnati (Lane), Chicago (McCor- 
mick), San Francisco, and latest of all at Omaha. It has 
furnished to American scholarship the eminent names 
of Edward Robinson, Moses Stuart, Charles and A. A. 
Hodge, Archibald Alexander and his sons, James W. 
and Joseph Addison Alexander, Henry B. Smith, W. G. 
T. Shedd, Philip Schaff and James McCosh, to say noth- 
ing of those still living. 

The Reformed Churches, both Dutch and German, re- 
mained associated with the synods in the Old World, from 
which they had proceeded. The Dutch Re- 
Dutch and Ger- formed Church began to organize itself early, 

man Reformed . c t • -i i 

Churches. but on account or dissensions was unable to 
complete its organization until 1770. The 
German Reformed held its synod first in 1747. Its 
founder was Michael Schlatter. Both of the Reformed 
Churches were based on the Heidelberg Catechism. 
The Dutch Church has the honor of having established 
the first theological seminary in the country, at New 
Brunswick, N. J., in connection afterwards with Rutgers 
College. 

The straggling beginnings of Lutheranism were brought 
together and compacted by Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, 
who came from Halle in 1742. His work at 
Lutherans. first consisted in organizing churches and se- 
curing ministers for them, whom he found for 
the most part in Halle. Thus the spirit of pietism was 
infused in a large measure into the nascent Lutheranism 
of America. The first Synod was held in Philadelphia 
in 1748. In 1820 the Church had grown large enough 
to warrant the formation of an independent General Synod 
of American Lutherans. The unity of this body has been 



332 CHURCH HISTORY. 

twice rent ; first, by the secession of the General Council 
in 1866, on the ground of laxity in adherence to the Augs- 
burg Confession ; and second, by the formation, in 1872, 
of the Lutheran Synodical Conference on a stricter basis 
than even the General Council. These three branches 
are nearly equal in strength. 

Methodism, as has been already noted, arose as a conse- 
quence of the preaching of Wesley in England in the middle 

of the eighteenth century. Soon after its origin 
Methodism. it was brought over into the American colonies 

by Philip Embury, Barbara Heck, and Thomas 
Webb (1760). Webb, a military man, threw his whole 
energy into the movement of propagating the evangelical 
views which he had found to be saving truth in his own 
experience. His labors were soon shared by Francis 
Asbury and Thomas Rankin. Asbury especially led 
Methodism through the crisis of the Revolution, and 
when that crisis was passed, the new Church was organized 
(1784) by the appointment and ordination of Thomas 
Coke as bishop, and Richard Whatcoat and Thomas 
Vasey as elders. A conference was held at the end of 
the same year, presided over by Bishop Coke, at which 
a doctrinal standard was adopted, consisting of an abridg- 
ment of the Thirty-nine Articles, and the name of the 
Church was fixed as The Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The Church thus organized entered upon a marvelous 
career of prosperity and usefulness. It has outstripped 

its sister denominations in point of numbers 
Divisions. and infused enthusiasm and warmth into all. 

It has, however, like them, been called upon 
to suffer from schism. In 1830 the Methodist Protestant 
broke off on the question of lay representation. The 
question of slavery next became the ground of a 
split in 1844, when the Wesleyan Church of America 
was organized on the basis of the toleration of slavery. 
The next year another division of Methodism ap- 
peared on a local line of separation in the Methodist 
Church. 

The Roman Catholic Church was regarded with pecul- 
iar aversion and even dread by the colonists almost 



THE CHURCH IN AMERICA DURING THE NATIONAL ERA. 



333 



throughout the whole country. Pennsylvania was, perhaps, 

the solitary exception to the rule, and even 

The Roman here their rights were only nominally con- 

Catnolic Church & J J 

ceded to them. After the war of the Revolu- 
tion, however, a change took place. The Continental 
Congress in 1774 abolished their disabilities in national 
politics. The individual States confirmed this action, 
one by one. Maryland was the first to enfranchise 
Roman Catholics. 

Prominent among the Catholic clergy was John Carroll, 
a cousin of Charles Carroll, of Carrollton, one of the 
signers of the Declaration of Independence. 
John Carroll. He was born in Maryland in 1735, was edu- 
cated in the college of St. Omer, in French 
Flanders, and at the Jesuit College at Liege, where he 
was ordained priest in 1759. Until 1771 he was Professor 
of Moral Philosophy at St. Omer. When the Society of 
Jesus was suppressed in 1773, he was forced to leave the 
Continent and went to England. In 1774 he returned to 
Maryland. During the war of the Revolution he rendered 
important services in the cause of American Independ- 
ence. In 1789, he was appointed the first Catholic 
bishop in the United States, with his see in Baltimore. He 
was consecrated in London, and returned immediately to dis- 
charge the duties of his office. In 1808 he was made arch- 
bishop. His diocese then embraced Maryland, Virginia, 
and the Southern States as far as the Gulf of Mexico and the 
Mississippi River. Devout, learned, patriotic, and elo- 
quent, he was one of the most powerful factors of his Church 
in this country. He directed his energies to the training of 
a clergy, the building of churches, the founding of Com- 
munities called Sisters of Charity, and the education of 
the people ; all of which measures helped to put the 
Church on a sound footing and to promote its growth. 
Accessions by purchase and concessions of large terri- 
tories occupied by Catholics, and by immigration from 
Europe, have given the Church the appearance of enor- 
mous growth. It has had to contend against difficulties 
both inherent in its system, and in the zeal of Protestants 
against it ; but it has also enjoyed the counsel of moder- 



334 



CHURCH HISTORY. 



ate and wise men like Archbishop Hughes (i 798-1864) 
and Cardinal McCloskey (1810-1885), not to mention 
distinguished prelates still living. 

The Universalists, though originating in Wales, have 
had a church life on this continent alone. John Murray, 

who took his views from James Relly, in 
Universalists. London, about the middle of the eighteenth 

century, brought Universalism to these shores 
in 1770. The original Church in Old England died out, 
but the offshoot in New England flourished. The first 
Universalist church was organized in 1779 by Murray. 
His labors were abundant and lasted until 1815. His 
work was taken up and carried on by Ballou and others 
with a moderate amount of success. 



INDEX. 



Abelard, 175. 

Acolytes, 61. 

Adiaphoristic Controversy, 248. 

Adoptionism, 127. 

Agape, 28, 42, 64. 

Albertus Magnus, 177. 

Albigensians, Albegensian Crusade, 168. 

Alexander of Hales, 177. 

Alexandrian influence on Judaism, 15. 

Alexandrian School of Christian thought, 

53- 
Alogi, 57. 

Ambrose, of Milan, 85. 
Amyraldian Theology, 271. 
Anabaptists, 216, 254. 
Anomoeans (Arians) 8. 
Anselm, of Canterbury, 175. 
Ansgar, missionary to Scandinavia, 137. 
Anthony the Eremite, 68. 
Antinomianism, 247. 
Antioch, first center of missionary effort, 

22 ' ?*' . 

Apollinaris, Apollinarianism, 89. 

Apollonius of Tyana, 46, 47. 

Apologists, 37. 

Apostles' Creed, 57. 

Apostles, traditions of, 25. 

Apostolic Constitutions, 63. 

Apostolic Fathers, 35 ff. 

Aquinas, Thomas, 177, 200. 

Arius, Arianism, 83 ff . 

Arminius, Arminianism, 250, 251, 284. 

Arnold of Brescia, 159. 

Artemon, 58. 

Aristides, apologist, 37. 

Asceticism, 67. 

Athenagoras, the apologist, 38. 

Athanasius, 84. 

Augsburg Confession, 204, 247. 

Augsburg, Peace of, 209. 

Augustinanism, 95 ff.144, 257. 

Augustine, bishop of Hippo, 94, 95, 103, 

144- 
Augustine, missionary to Britain, 122. 

Babylonian Captivity of the Papacy, 181. 
Bacon Roger, 178. 



Baptism, in the primitive Church, 28 ; in 
the Ante-Nicene Church, 65. 

Baptists in America, 326. 

Bar-Cochba, 32. 

Bardesanes, 41. 

Barnabas, Epistle of, 36. 

Basil the Great, 86, 104. 

Basilides, Gnostic leader, 40. 

Becket, Thomas A., 160. 

Bede, the Venerable, 123. 

Belgic Confession, 252. 

Benedict of Nursia, 105, 154. 

Berengarius, 147, 174. 

Bernard of Clairvaux, 166, 171, 175, 176. 

Beryl of Bostra, 55, 59. 

Beza, Theodore, 232. 

Bible, Authorized Version of, 240. 

Bible Societies, 294, 307, 327. 

Biel, Gabriel, 189. 

Boethius, 94. 

Bogomiles, 169. 
j Bonaventura, 177. 
i Boniface, missionary to Germany, 124. 

Boniface VIII., pope, 180 ff., 193. 

Book of Common Prayer, 214, 324. 

Book of Sports, 241. 

Broad Church party, 302, 303, 324. 

Byzantine empire, fall of, 108, 185. 

Byzantium, transfer of empire to, 84. 

Caedmon, 123. 
Calixtine Controversy, 265. 
Calvinism, five points of, 251 ; controver- 
sies regarding, 282 ff. 
Calvin, John, 215 ff. 
Cambridge Platform, 315. 
Cambridge Platonists, 279. 
Cameron, Richard, Cameronians, 268, 300. 
Campbellites, 326. 
Caraffa. Cardinal, 221. 
Carlstadt, 201, 203. 
Carpocrates, Gnostic leader, 40. 
Carroll, John, 333. 
Carthusians, 172. 
Catacombs, 67. 

Catholic Apostolic Church, 304. 
Celsus, 45. 

335 



33 6 



INDEX. 



Chalcedon, Council of, 91. 

Chalmers, Thomas, 300, 307, 308. 

Charming, W. E., 324, 325. 

Charlemagne, 116, 120, 126, 127, 137. 

Charles I., of England, 241. 

Charles II. of England, 256. 

Charles V., emperor, 203, 212, 229. 

Charles Martel, 113, 120. 

Chiliasm, 59. 

Christian, origin of name, 21. 

Christianity, preparation for, 11 ff., spread 
of, 44, 45, made the state religion, 70. 

Christianization of Bohemia, 141 ; of Den- 
mark, 138 ; of Magyars, 143 ; of Mo- 
ravia, 140 ; of Norway, 140 ; of Poland, 
141 ; of Russia, 142; of Sweden, 138. 

Chrysostom, John, 88. 

Church, conceptions of, 6; visible and 
invisible, 7 ; founding of, 17 ; organiza- 
tion, 20 ; distinguished from Judaism, 
25, 32 ; polity of, 26 ; Catholic, recog- 
nized, 41 ; music of, 130. 

Cistercians, 171. 

Claudius Apollinaris, 37. 

Clementine Literature, 39. 

Clement of Alexandria, 53. 

Clement of Rome, 35. 

Clergy, lower, 61, 79; laws regarding, 
129; marriage of, 62, 80, 156; new 
functions of, 78, 79 ; support of, 62. 

Clovis, king of the Franks, 76. 

Cocceius, Cocceians, 270. 

Code of Vinea, 162. 

Coligny, Gaspard de, admiral, 231 ff. 

Columba, missionary to Scotland, 77. 

Columbanus, missionary to Gaul, 124. 

Constantine, 70 ff . 

Councils, ecumenical, 80 ; of Basel, 184 ; 
of Chalcedon, 91 ; of Constance, 184, 
195 ; of Constr ntinople, the first, 87 ; 
the second, 92; the third, 114; of 
Ephesus, 90, 96; Lateran first, 158; 
Lateran second, 159; Lateran third, 
160; Lateran fourth, 161, 162 ; Lateran 
fifth, 187 ; of Lyons, the first, 162 ; the 
second, 163 ; of Nicasa, the first, 83 ff. ; 
the second, 116; of Pisa, 183 ; of Trent, 
222 ; of the Vatican, 295 ; the Quini- 
sext, 114. 

Counter-Reformation, 219. 

Covenanters, 268. 

Covenant, the, 243, 246, 252. 

Covenant theology, 270. 

Cranmer, Archbishop, 213, 214, 237. 

Cromwell, Oliver, 243, 267. 

Crusades, 165 ff., 186. 

Crypto-Calvinism, 249. 

Cumberland Presbyterians, 330. 

Cyprian, 52, 60, 64. 

Deaconesses, 6. 

Deacons, appointed, 20 ; permanent or- 
der, 27, 42, 60. 
Deism, in Great Britain, 274 ; in France, 



276; in Germany, 277; in America, 
321. 

Diaspora (Dispersion), 15. 

Diognetus, Letter to, 37. 

Dionysius of Alexandria, 56. 

Dionysius the Areopagite, 93. 

Doellinger, Ignatius, 296. 

Dominicans, order of monks, 172. 

Donatists and Donatist Schism, 103 ff. 

Dorotheus, 52. 
j Dort, Synod of, 251, 252. 
! Dositheus, heresiarch, 30, 40. 
I Dutch Republic, rise of, 231. 

1 Ebionites, 38. 

j Eckart, Meister, 189. 

j Edward VI., of England, 214. 

Edwards, Jonathan, 318. 
! Elipandus, of Toledo, 127. 

Elizabeth, Queen of England, 237, 243. 

Elkesaites, 38. 

Epiphanius, 87, 100, 101. 

Episcopal Church in America, 323. 

Erasmus, 192, 205. 

Erigena, John Scotus, 145. 

Essenes, 14. 

Euchetse, 74. 

Eusebius, of Caesarea, 71, 84, 101. 

Eusebius of Nicomedia, 84. 

Eutyches, Eutychianism, 90. 

Evangelical Alliance, 308. 

Excommunication, 28, 63, 103, 153 ; of 
Luther, 201 ; of Doellinger, 296. 

Exorcists, in the early Church, 61. 

Farel, William, French reformer, 215. 

Felicissimus, schism of, 64. 

Felix of Urgel, 127. 

Feudal system, 134. 

Flacius, Flacianism, 249. 

Formula of Concord, 249. 

Fortunatus, schismatic, 69. 

Fox, George, 281. 

Franciscans, order of monks, 173. 

Francis of Assissi, 173. 

Francis of Sales, 260. 

Francke, A. H., 262. 

Fraticelli, 173. 

Frederick Barbarossa, 159. 

Frederick II., emperor, 161. 

Free Church of Scotland, 300. 

French Revolution, religious bearings of, 

287 ff. 
" Friends of God" sect, 190. 
Friends, Society of, 281, 312, 314 ff. 
Fronto, early opponent of Christianity, 

45- 

Gaius, 51. 

Gallican Confessions, 250. 
Gallican Question, 256. 
Gallienus, emperor, toleration of Chris- 
tians, 49. 



INDEX. 



337 



Gentiles, first preaching to, 21 ; question 

concerning converts, 22. 
Gilbert of Porree, 175. 
Gnosticism, 39 ff . opposition to, in the 

early Church, 51. 
Golden Bull, 182. 
Gottschalk, 144 ff. 
Gregory of Nazianzus, 86. 
Gregory of Nyssa, 86. 
Gregory of Tours, 76. 
Gregory I., pope (the Great) 118, 122, 

128, 130. 
Gregory VII., (Hildebrand) 136, 147, 

156, 167. 
Gregory Thaumaturgus, 56. 
Gregory, the Illuminator, 74. 
Guelph and Ghibelline feud, 159 ff. 
Gustavus Adolphus, 235, 255. 

Hadrian, emperor, 34. 

Half-way Covenant, 316. 

Heathenism suppressed, 73. 

Hegesippus, 51. 

Heidelberg Catechism, 250. 

Helvetic Confession, 250. 

Helvidius, view of the virginity of Mary, 

100. 
Henry IV., emperor, and Hildebrand, 

iS7, 158. 
Henry VIII., of England, 204, 212. 
Henry of Navarre, 233. 
Hermas, 36. 
Hierocles, early opponent of Christianity, 

47- 
Hilary of Poictiers, 86. 
Hildebrand, (pope Gregory VII.), 136, 

147, 156, 165. 
Hippolytus, 51, 59, 63. 
History, definition of, 5, 6 ; advantages of 

the study of, 8 ; periods of, 9, 10 ; 

sacred and secular, 7. 
Hoadly, bishop of Bangor, 269. 
Holy Alliance, 290. 

Holy Roman Empire, founded, 121 ; dis- 
solved, 255. 
Homoioousianism and Homoousianism, 

85. 
Hopkins, Samuel and Hopkinsianism, 

326. 
Huguenots, 231 ff., 310. 
Huss, John, 184, 195. 
Hutchinson, Anne, Hutchinsonianism, 

318. 
Hypatia, 73. 
Hypsistarians, 74. 

Ignatius, Epistles of, 36 ; martyrdom of, 

Image-worship, controversies regarding, 

115 ff., 223. 
Independency, Independents, 238 ff., 

267, 311. 
I7idex Exfmr gator ius, 224. 
Indulgences, 193, 199, 205, 223. 



! Inner Light, doctrine of, 281. 
I Innocent III., pope, 160. 
I Inquisition, 194, 223, 224. 

Interdict, 153, defined, 153 ; imposed on 
Rome, 159; imposed on Florence, 224. 

Investiture, Controversy over, 17 ff. 

Irenaeus, 51. 

Irving, Edward, 394. 

Isidore of Seville, 126. 

Isidorian decretals, 132. 

Jacobites, 93. 

James the Apostle, 24. 

James I., of England, 239, 245. 

Jansen, Jansenism, 257, ff. 

Jerome, Church Father, 87, 100. 

Jerome of Prague, 195, 196. 

Jerusalem, Assembly at, 23 ; fall of, 26, 
32. 

Jesuits, 225 ff., 257, 258, 260, 294, 298, 310. 

Joanna, alleged female pope, 133. 

John of Damascus, 115. 

John the Apostle, later life of, 25. 

John XII., pope, 134. 

John XXIII., pope, 184. 

Jovian, emperor, 72. 

Judaism, development of, after the Baby- 
lonian Captivity, 13 ; political history 
of, 16, 17; after the fall of Jerusalem, 
32. 

Julian of Eclanum, 97. 

Julian the Apostate, 71. 

Julius Africanus, 52. 

Justinian, emperor, 13, 926. 

Justin, Martyr, Apologies of, 37 ; death of, 
35. 

Keltic Church in Great Britain, 76, 122. 

Kempis, Thomas a, 190. 

Kenotic Controversy, 265. 

Kentigern, missionary to Scotland, 77. 

Knox, John, 243 ff. 

Koran, The, 112. 

Kultur-Kampf, the, 297. 

Lanfranc, of Bee, 147. 

Latitudinarianism, 279. 

Laud, Archbishop, 241. 

Leo I., pope, 82, 91. 

Leo III., pope, 121. 

Leo Isauricus, emperor, 115. 

Leo X., pope, 187, 199. 

Leo XIII., pope, 297. 

Libanius, rhetorician and opponent of 
Christianity, 73. 

Lombard, Peter, 176. 

Louis IX., of France, 163. 

Loyola, Ignatius, 226. 

Lucar, Cyril, 236. 

Lucian, of Antioch, 42. 

Lucian, of Samosata, 45. 

Luther, Martin, early life of, 200 ; ap- 
pearance as a reformer, 201 ; excom- 



338 INDEX. 

munication of, 201 ; marriage of, 204 ; 
controversies of, 204, 205 ; death of, 208. 
Lutheranism, 262 ff ., 299 ; in America, 
33i- 

Macedonius, Macedonianism, 86. 

Magna Charta, 161. 

Makemie, Francis, 328. 

Mani, Manichaeism, 68 ff . 

Marcion, Gnostic leader, 41. 

Marcus Aurelius, emperor, 34. 

Maro, Maronites, 115. 

Marsilius, of Padua, 188. 

Mary of England, (*' Bloody " Mary) 237. 

Mary Queen of Scots, 244. 

Mathers, the, in New England, 317, 320. 

Melanchthon, 202, 207, 208, 247. 

Melanchtonians, 248. 

Meletius, 64. 

Melito, of Sardis, 38. 

Melkizedekians, 58. 

Melville, Andrew, 245. 

Menander, heresiarch, 30, 40. 

Menno, Mennonites, 254. 

Mesrob, 75. 

Methodism in the United States, 332. 

Methodius, missionary to the Slavs, 140 ff. 

Methodius, of Olympus, 56. 

Minorites, (Fraticelli) 173. 

Missions, modern, origin of, 304 ff. ; in 

America, 320, 326, 327. 
Mohammed, Mohammedanism, no ff. 
Molina, Luis, 257. 
Monarchianism, 57. 
Monasticism, 104, 154, 171. 
Monophysitism, 91 ff. 
Monothelitism, 113 ff. 
Montanism, 42, 43. 
Moravian Brethren, 263, 283. 

Nantes, Edict of, issued, 253 ; revoked, 
270. 

Narses, 75. 

Nazarenes, 38. 

Nestorius, Nestorianism, 89 ff. 

Newman, Cardinal J. H., 303. 

New Testament, writing of, 29 ; recogni- 
tion of as a part of the Canon, 56, 57. 

Neo-Platonism, 46. 

Nicasa, Council of, 83. 

Nicholas, of Lyra, 191. 

Nicholas I., pope, 133, 148. 

Nicolaitans, early sect, 30. 

Noetus, 58. 

Novatian, 65. 

Occam, William of, 188, 200. 
Old Catholics, 296. 
Ophites, Gnostic sect, 40. 
Orange, William of, 230. 
Oratory of the Divine Love, 220. 
Origen, Adamantius, 48, 54. 
Origenistic Controversies, 87. 
Otto I., emperor, 134, 141, 142, 143. 



Pagan, origin of name, 73. 

Pantasnus, 53. 

Papias of Hierapolis, 36 ff. 

Parker, Theodore, 325. 

Pascal, Blaise, 258. 

Patriarchates, development of, 63, 80, 81. 

Patrick, St., missionary to Ireland, 76. 

Patripassianism, 58. 

Paul of Samosata, 58. 

Paul of Thebes, monk, 68. 

Paulicians, 116, 117. 

Paul, the Apostle, conversion of, 21 ; mis- 
sionary labors of, 22, 23 ; martyrdom of, 
24 ; writings of, 29. 

Peasants' War, 205. 

Pelagius, Pelagianism, 95, 96. 

Penitential books, 123, 129. 

Penitential presbyter, 103. 

Penn, William, 312. 

Persecutions, under Decius, 48 ; under 
Diocletian, 49 ; under Domitian, 26 ; 
under Hadrian, 34 ; under Marcus 
Aurelius, 35; under Maximin, 47; 
under Nero, 26 ; under Septimius Se- 
merus, 47 ; under Trajan, 34. 

Peter, the Apostle, labors and death of, 
24. 

Peter, the Hermit, 165, 166. 

Petrobrussians, 169. 

Pharisees, 13. 

Philip, the Fair, of France, 180. 

Philip II., of Spain, 229, 230. 

Philosophy, ancient, opposed to Christ- 
ianity, 45, 73 ; modern, 272 ff., 291 ff. 

Philostratus, 46. 

Photius, patriarch of Constantinople, 133, 
138. 

Pietism, 262. 

Pius IX., Pope, 295. 

Placeus, (La Place) 271. 

Pliny, the Younger, letter of, to the em- 
peror, 33, 34. 

Plotinus, 46. 

Polity of the primitive Church, 27 ; of the 
sub-apostolic Church, 42 ; of the ante- 
Nicene Church, 60 ; of the Nicene and 
post-Nicene Church, 78. 

Polycarp martyrdom of, 35 ; Epistle of, 
36. 

Pornocracy, 134. 

Porphyry, 46. 

Pragmatic Sanction, 163, 187. 

Praxeas, 58. 

Predestinarian Controversy, 144 ff. 

Presbyter and bishop, 27, 42, 60, 78. 

Presbyterianism in America, 428. 

Priscillianism, 97. 

Propaganda, Congregation of, 228. 

Proselytes, kinds of, 16 ; preaching to, 21. 

Protestanism, origin of name, 204. 

Puritan divines, 279. 

Puritanism,origin and early forms of, 23 8. 

Puritans in New England, 311; customs, 
of, 319. 



INDEX. 



339 



Quadratus, apologist, 37. 
Quadragesima, 66, 94. 
Quartodeciman Controversy, 66. 
Quesnel, Paschasius, 259. 
Quietism, 259 ff. 

Rabbinical schools, 32. 

Radbertus, Paschasius, 146. 

Raymond Lull, 278. 

Raymond of Sabunde, 191. 

Readers in the Ancient Church, 61. 

Reformation, rise of, 199 ff ; spread of, in 
Scandinavia, 210; in France, 211, 231 ; 
in England, 212 ff., 237 ; in Geneva, 215 
ff., inHolland, 229 ff., in Scotland, 243. 

Regium Donum, 269. 

Remonstrance, Remonstrants, 251. 

Renaissance, 191, 219. 

Reuchlin, John, 192. 

Richelieu, policy of, 235. 

Rienzi, 182. 

Ritschl, Albrecht, 302. 

Roman Catholic Church, in America, 
333 ; in Europe in the nineteenth cen- 
tury, 294 ff. 

Roman Empire, condition of at the time 
of Christ, 12 ; divided, 73 ; fall of, 108. 

Roman Law, its bearings on the primitive 
Church, 33. 

Rome, primacy of the see of, 63, 81, 82. 

Ruysbroek, 190. 

Sabbath-school origin of, 307. 

Sabellius, Sabellianism, 59. 

Sacheverell case, 269. 

Sacramentarian controversies, 146, 206. 

Sadducees, 14. 

Samaria, preaching to, 20. 

Samaritans, 16. 

Saturninus, Gnostic leader, 40. 

Savonarola, Jerome, 196, 197. 

Saybrook Platform 316. 

Schisms, of Calixtus and Hippolytus, 64 ; 
of Felicissimus, 65 ; of Donatus, 103 ; 
of Meletius, 64 ; of Novatian, 65 ; be- 
tween the East and West, 148, 149, 
185. Great, of the West, 183. 

Schleiermacher, Friedrich, 301. 

Scotus, John Duns, 178. 

Semi-Arians, 84. 

Semi-Pelagianism, 97. 

Septuagint, 15. 

Servetus, Michael, 217, 218. 

Severus, Alexander, emperor, 47. 

Severus, Septimius, emperor, 47. 

Sicilian Vespers, 163. 

Simon Magus, 20, 40. 

Slavery in the Middle Ages, 152. 

Smalcald, League of, 208 ; war of, 209. 

Socinus Faustus, 254. 

Socinus, Laelius, 254. 

Solemn League and Covenant, 252. 

Spener, Philip Jacob, 262. 

Stephen, martyrdom of, 20, 



Stoddard, Solomon, 319. 
Stylites, class of monks, 104. 
St. Bartholomew, massacre of, 2-3 
St. Victor, school of, 176. 
Sub-deacons, 61. 
Suso, Henry, 189. 
Sutri, Synod of, 135. 
Swedenborg, Swedenborgianism, 264. 
Synagogue, 14. 
Synergistic Controversy, 248. 
Synods, in the early Church, 62 (See also 
Councils); in New England, 316. 

Talmud, origin of, 32. 

Tatian, 37, 38. 

Tauler, John, 189. 

Teaching of the Twelve, (Didache) 37. 

Templars order of knights, origin of, 166; 

suppression of, 181. 
Tertullian, 43, 52, 58. 
Tetzel, John, 200. 
Theodore, of Mopsuestia, 89. 
Theodore of the Studium, 116. 
Theodotus, the money changer, 58. 
Theodotus, the tanner, 58. 
Theophilus of Alexandria, 88. 
Thirty-Nine Articles, 252. 
Thirty Years War, 234. 
Three Chapters, Controversy of, 92,93. 
Tractarianism, 303. 
Trajan, emperor, attitude of towards 

Christianity, 34. 
Transcendentalism, 324. 
Transubstantiation, 98, 46, 203, 213, 223, 

267. 
Trent, Council of, 222 ff. 
Truce of God, 152. 
Tubingen School of Criticism, 301. 
Turretin Francis, 270. 

Ulfilas, the Apostle to the Goths, 75. 
Ultramontanism, 297. 
Unitarianism, in England, 277 ; in Am- 
erica, 324. 
Universalists, 334. 
Universities origin of, 173. 

Valentinus, Gnostic leader, 40. 
Vasa, Gustavus, 211. 
Voetius, Voetians, 270. 

Waldensians, 169, 299, 300. 
Wesley John, 280, 282 ff. 
Wesley, Charles, 280. 
Westminister Assembly, 252 ff. 
Westminster, Confession of Faith, 252 ; 

adopted by the Presbyterian Church of 

America, 328. 
Westphalia, Treaty of, 235, 255. 
Whitefield, George, 282 ff. 
Williams, Roger, 315. 
Willibrord, missionary to Germany, 124. 
Witchcraft Delusion, 319. 
Worship, in the primitive Church, 28 ; iu 



34o 



INDEX. 



the sub-apostolic Church, 42 ; in the 
ante-Nicene Church, 64 ; in the post- 
Nicene Church, 98; in the Middle 
Ages, 153 ; of Angels, 101 : of images, 
101 : of Mary, 100 ; of saints, 100. 
Wyclif, John, 194. 



Xavier, Francis, Jesuit missionary, 227, 



Zinzendorf, count Louis, 263. 
Zwickau, the prophets of, 203, 
Zwingli, Ulrich, 205. 



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